


Going Digital

by Magiccatprincess, mostlikelytofangirl



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, 美男高校地球防衛部LOVE! | Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu LOVE!
Genre: Multi, Other, digimon AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-02 22:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 58,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5266328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magiccatprincess/pseuds/Magiccatprincess, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mostlikelytofangirl/pseuds/mostlikelytofangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the summer of that year, strange events occurred all over Earth. The paddy fields in south-east Asia dried up from drought.. Heavy rains flooded the Middle-East, and America suffered from freezing temperatures.  For nine kids at Summer Camp, these weather changes signaled the beginning of their adventure in an unknown world.</p>
<p>In which our boueibu boys go to Summer camp, but might not come back...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. And so it begins.

**Author's Note:**

> For those not familiar with my earlier writing, Chiyo is the name I picked for Miss Bara Beach. Or.. the name she picked for herself. It all depends on how you look at it. ^^
> 
> Welcome to this brand new AU, I hope you'll like it

Climbing trees wasn't as easy as he remembered it. At least... It wasn't as easy as Yumoto and Ryuu made it look. Eleven-year-old En Yufuin hadn't climbed  _anything_ in years, but if climbing a tree was what it took to find some peace and quiet around the camp, then so be it.

En settled down on the thickest branch of the tree, and took a moment to admire the height he'd reached. From there he could see almost all the kids from his group at camp. Io was sitting at one of the picnic tables near the bungalow, the green-haired boy was too engrossed in his tablet to pay attention to what the other kids were doing. Just like every other day of camp so far.

Nine-year-old Zaou Ryuu was reluctantly looking for Yumoto, who had convinced the other to play hide and seek with him. That wasn't something appreciated by their camp counselor Minami Chiyo, a bossy fourteen-year-old girl with shoulder length, dark purple hair, and blue eyes. Thankfully it seemed that Yumoto wasn't that good at the 'hiding ' part of the game yet. Last thing Chiyo needed today was to lose another kid. Especially now that she was already missing three of the boys from her group. She'd been looking for them all morning!

For a minute or two En watched the rest, till he got tired of them and rested his back against the trunk of the three.

"En-chan?"

"Hm?" Surprised to be addressed, En looked down at Atsushi who was settled on the ground, he'd been quietly reading a book underneath the shade of a the tree, like he had been for a while, but now the blue-haired boy was looking up at his new friend, with a worried expression. His book discarded on his lap.

"Should we help Chiyo-san with finding the others?"

En frowned at the thought of coming back down from the tree, especially for something like a search party for people who didn't want to be found. "Nah Atsushi, you know them." En shrugged. "Two of them are probably of somewhere pouting about getting mud on their shoes or something, and the other followed them around like a puppy wanting to keep them happy."

Still worried for his friends, Atsushi looked at En for a moment longer, before sighing. "You're probably right." He smiled at En, and grabbed his book.

"Of course I am." En chucked and rested his back against the trunk. "Wake me up when it's time to go to the lake." The boy patted his swimming goggles, before closing his eyes.

His nap only just started when five minutes later, En was abruptly interrupted when something cold landed on his nose.

"What?!" En woke with a start and looked up at the sky.

The other kids at the camp did the same.

"Snow?!" Atsushi exclaimed, looking around wildly when more snowflakes drifted to the ground. "In _Summer_?" 

The whole group gazed at the flakes in wonder, then the wind picked up and what started out as mysterious snowfall in summer, turned into a mysterious snow storm.

"Everyone!" Chiyo cried, gripping her hat to keep it from being blown away. "To our cabin!" 

For once she had no trouble getting the boys to listen to her.

Inside the cabin she and Atsushi stayed near the window watching the snow storm. Large thick flakes coating the grass field white in mere minutes. It unheard of in this area.

Chiyo bit her lip. "They're so gonna kill me..." Where the heck where those three kids? The camp staff would so have her head for this! How could she have lost three kids?! They'd all been in bed last night, Chiyo was sure of it! She'd checked it twice before going to her own bed. Maybe they sneaked out before sunrise...

"It stopped!"

"What?"

Chiyo looked away from the window just in time to see Ryuu pull the door open and run outside. Of course the other boys wanted to go outside then too. 

"This is so cool!" Ryuu cried, looking around the grass field. Not that there was any grass left in view. "Everything is all covered in snow!"

"Yay!" Yumoto ran past Ryuu, a huge grin plastered on his chubby face. "Snow is awesome! Let's make snow angels!" The eight-year-old cheered and let himself fall backwards into the snow, happily waving his arms and legs around.

Following the two youngest outside, Chiyo sighed, a troubled smile forming on her face.  "Yumoto..." At least the kid was distracted from all the changes from the past six months. She shook her head. "Boys! At least... Get your winter coats..." The young teen palmed her forehead, of course none of them would have packed their winter coats to Summer camp.

Atsushi immediately began to shiver once outside. "It's really freezing now!" The boy wrapped his arms around himself, for extra warmth and started walking towards the rest.

"Guess swimming is canceled." En nodded and followed Atsushi out.

Hearing the older boy's comment Ryuu laughed. "We can go snowboarding instead!" He joked, glancing over his shoulder. His smile fell when he noticed that one of them was still in the bungalow.

Frowning, Ryuu got back inside. "Iooo!" He called out to the boy he had dubbed his friend since the first day of camp. "What are you still you doing here? You're missing out on the snow."

Io was still sitting on the bed and messing with his tablet, but by now the boy had a deep frown on his face. "I thought that the wifi would work again once the storm died. I can't go to the FX site like this."

"The wifi is still out?!" Ryuu gasped and took his pink, xperia phone from his pocket. He'd begged his grandma for months for that cellphone. Instead of showing that there was no signal, the screen was just... a mess. His whole background picture was now pixelated. "It broke?"

Io opened his mouth to answer, but stopped talking when they heard the others gasp outside.

"Io! Ryuu!" Atsushi shouted to them. "Come look at this!"

Io and Ryuu shared a look before putting their devices away and getting out of the bungalow. Outside, they followed the other's gaze to the sky and gasped. Yellow, pink, red, blue, green and purple lights shone in the sky. The bright colors seemed to move around, like rippling water. "It's so pretty!" Yumoto cried, dusting snow from his shorts.

Ryuu nodded, grinning again. "So romantic!" He breathed unable to tear his eyes away from the pretty sight. Chiyo was at loss for words. "It's..."

"An aurora?" Atsushi suggested, looking at the older girl.

Chiyo nodded slowly, that was the only thing those lights could be. It sure looked like the ones she had seen online and on TV. "It's different in real life."

"But that's not possible!" Io protested, adjusting his bag. "How can there be an aurora in Japan?!"

She didn't have an answer to that. "Let's... go back to the main lodge, the others must be there too."

"Yeah," En stretched his arms. "It would be a pain if we got sick from this weather."

They were about to turn around and head for the main area of their camp, when Yumoto stilled because he saw something change in the sky. "Look!"

Behind the lights in the sky, a circle of light shone brighter than the rest, its' center hot and seemed to grow hotter and bigger when suddenly-six orbs of light shot out of it and began falling from the sky like meteors.

They hit the ground like meteors too. The children could only cry out in fear and duck to protect their heads, when the orbs came crashing down all around them, sending puffs of fresh snow up like it was smoke.

When the snow clouds stopped falling, the kids, slowly got back to their feet and looked around.

"Kids!" Chiyo wildly looked at each of them, heart racing. "Is everyone alright?!"

Atsushi gave a curt nod as he let En help him up. "Y-yeah."

Io and Ryuu both nodded, looking around in stunned shock.

"Uh huh!" Yumoto answered, looking down at the hole in the snow near him where one of the 'meteors' landed. The was a light shining out of it, and- Yumoto pulled back in shock when something floated out of the hole. Red eyes wide in wonder, Yumoto reached for the orb and grabbed it. The light faded and Yumoto could look at his treasure from the sky.

It was a small, very simple device, it looked almost like a circle, had a small screen on it, and two buttons.

Glowing orbs floated out of the holes near the other kids' feet too, and since Yumoto grabbed one, the others didn't think twice about reaching out and grabbing onto the light too.

Not even Chiyo hesitated, the light stopped in front of her, and felt warm... But not hot, as she discovered when she grasped it with both hands. The light faded at her touch and she was left with a device too.

"Is it... an old game or something?" En wondered, holding his device up to get a better look.

"It looks tacky." Ryuu observed dryly.

Suddenly the screens on all six devices light up, it died down again soon after. Io was about to suggest that they'd sell these weird devices online, when he suddenly heard the sound of water.

That didn't make sense, the lake was too far away to sound so loud and- Io looked up, gray eyes widening in horror when he saw a huge tidal wave rise from- from the ground? It rose and rose and...

The children screamed when the water came down.

However, instead of pushing them away and submerging them, the wave sucked them in, and they fell...

* * *

Lights... Lots of lights, blue... red and green. Ones and zeros ... pixels- No, water. Yes that was it. Water. They would go swimming later today, that's why he'd worn his goggles. En groaned in his sleep, remembering where he was as he slowly started to wake up.

"En!"

En shook his head, he definitely didn't want to wake up yet. Why was the mattress so hard anyway? Oh right, he'd wanted peace and quiet from the loud younger kids, so he tried napping in a tree...

"En!"

That voice sounded funny, still... the boy didn't want to focus yet. "Not yet." En tried to turn over, but found he couldn't, there was something on top of his chest. Groaning in defeat, En gave in and opened his eyes. And saw large blue eyes on a beige face

"Eh?" Blinking in confusion, En lifted his head slightly, and stared.

There was a small... creature sitting on his chest. It looked like a baby seal... kind of. But smaller, and... not a seal. It had beige skin, large blue eyes, a tuft of orange hair on its' head, and large teeth that the creature was proudly showing off as it grinned brightly at En.

En stared at the little monster for a total of thirty seconds. Then the eleven-year-old screamed and pushed the little monster off him. 

The creature seemed unhindered by being pushed away, and happily flapped its' flippers and bounced over to En. "En! En! En!" The little monster cheered happily. "You're here! You're finally awake sleepyhead!"

For some reason, the little monster's energetic shouting, was actually calming En down. "It talks..." The boy muttered, face falling back into his usual sleepy frown. "And... you know my name?"

"You're here!" The little monster cheered one more time, before leaping towards En, who instinctively caught the creature in his arm. "En is so great!" 

"Right..." En stared at the monster in his hands. The little guy wasn't heavy at all. "I'm dreaming right?"

"Nope!"

Exactly what a dream would say... "What are you?"

If the little seal monster was bothered by En not knowing his name, he didn't show it. "I'm Pukamon." He cheerily introduced himself. "I've been waiting for you."

"Pukamon?" En repeated raising an eyebrow.

Pukamon nodded happily, his grin widening when En used his name. "I'm so happy! You're finally here!"

"Here...?" En repeated looking around, finally realizing that he had no idea where here was. He was in a forest, that much he could tell, but it wasn't like any forest he'd ever seen. There were huge flowers on the ground, the grass was darker green and the trees had purple-ish trunks and blue leaves. He definitely wasn't at his camp anymore.

So... He was still dreaming? En swallowed nervously. Yes, this was a dream. It made the most sense. He looked at Pukamon again. "Pukamon? What is this place? And what do you mean with 'waiting for me? 'What-"

"En-senpai?"

At the sound of that familiar voice En turned around, and saw Io walking out from behind one of the trees.

"You're here too..." Io let out a small sigh of relief when he reached En's side. "I was worried I ended up here by myself "

"What do you mean by yourself?! I'm right here!" A high-pitched voice followed right after Io's statement, and En stared in shock when saw that Io was being followed by a small... ball with soft yellow, skin, and a fin-shaped ears coming out of the sides of its' head. The creature had small black eyes, and a happy smile on his face. "I'm right here with you!"

"Another one?!" En exclaimed, letting go of Pukamon in surprise.

"You have one too..." Io observed quietly. He then reached down and picked his small monster up. "Upamon has been following me around since I woke up here."

"Upamon?" En echoed, frowning lightly. Clearly Io had been awake for much longer than he was. "And do you know where here is?"

"Not 'where here'." Upamon giggled, bouncing out of Io's arms. " _Here_ , here. This is File Island."

"That's what he keeps saying. But..." Io sighed, already tired of this weird 'game'. His mom hadn't said anything about this camp having some sort of role-playing game, or monster spotting game or whatever. And 'island?'. The ten-year-old looked around again. The forest was huge! No matter where he looked, he saw trees, hundreds of odd colored, large trees. The sounds of birds and bugs filled the air, and if he looked far enough, Io could see a mountain top peeking out from above the tree tops.

A mountain that definitely wasn't anywhere near their camp.

"I don't know where we are." The boy concluded with a miserable sigh.

En made a face at Io's tone. "No need to sound like that." En glanced at the tree they were standing near to, and remembered how he could view the whole area from the tree at camp. "I'll find out where we are and where camp is."

Walking over to the blue tree, En paused and considered why they couldn't wait for Ryuu or Yumoto to come here, so they could climb the tree, but decided against it. Atsushi and Chiyo would both complain about him letting the younger ones do something like that.

So En sighed, and began climbing.

And climbing. Grunting as the rough tree bark left tiny cuts on his palms. This tree was much higher than the one he climbed this morning. En went to the highest of the steady looking branches at sat down. En looked around and- his breath got caught in his throat when he saw their surroundings. "A-an ocean?!" The monsters were right! The place really did look like an island! There were many mountains in the distance, and even from this tree top it looked like the forest could go on forever... "Where are we?"

Pukamon flapped his flippers and slowly floated up to the branch En was sitting on. "Hey!" He greeted, sitting down besides En. "En? What'cha doing?"

"I'm trying to see where we-" En stilled and looked at Pukamon. "You floated to get up here?"

Pukamon nodded cheerily. "Yes!"

"Then why did you let me climb all this way up here?!"

"You didn't ask if I could float."

"That's not the point, you shouldn't have let go- huh? " En stopped talking when he heard an odd, loud chattering sound coming closer from the distance. Looking around for the source of the noise, En spotted a red stag beetle flying around in the distance.

It couldn't be too far away, and it was making that chattering noise with it's pincers.

Then the beetle actually started getting closer, and it became very clear that it had been far away when En first spotted it. Because the closer it got, the bigger it got. It had large strong jaws, giant pincers and wings and- It wasn't something En wanted to get closer to!

The monster was freaking **_HUGE!_**

Coming closer and closer! The monster roared when it reached the tree, En and Pukamon had to quickly duck to avoid the monster severing their heads, along with the tree top that fell to the ground.

Io shouted out in surprise as he and Upamon jumped away from the falling tree parts. The boy gasped when he saw the giant beetle monster fly past them, and then quickly turn around.

"Oh no!" Upamon cried, jumping up and down in fear. "This is bad! It's Kuwagamon!"

"WHAT?!" Io turned around sharply to look at his small monster. "What is a Kuwagamon!"

* * *

 **Digimon Analyzer.**  
_Kuwagamon: An insect type digital monster. It's final move Scissor Arms, can cut through anything!_

* * *

Kuwagamon roared and turned back to the three, just when En and Pukamon were sitting back up. Pukamon was the first to see the monster approaching again.  
"En! Look out!" Pukamon cried leaping of the tree to tackle Kuwagamon. Pukamon blew out a large pink bubble from his mouth that exploded when it hit Kuwagamon's head. It didn’t harm the larger digimon, but it did make it change direction, and only craze the tree again instead of hitting En. 

The tree shook, and even En lost his balance and fell. The boy hit the ground with a loud thud.

"En-senpai!"

"I'm fine." En groaned, sitting up. He rubbed his head in pain, before letting Io help him up.

There was no stopping Pukamon from hitting Kuwagamon's head, and being pushed against another tree, which cracked upon impact. The small creature whimpered as he fell to the ground.

"Pukamon!"

En hadn't expect his heart to lurch at the sight of the little monster laying on the ground. He was running towards his new friend before he realized it. "Idiot!" He cried, lifting Pukamon back up. "Don't be so reckless! That thing could have killed you!"

Pukamon winced at being yelled it. "En..."

"But..." En exhaled slowly, shoulders sagging and a small smile forming on his face. "It was pretty cool how you attacked that thing. Thank you for saving me."

Smile returning Pukamon nodded. "Any time."

That chattering sound returned and Io gaped when he saw Kuwagamon returning, it flew much closer to the ground now. Pukamon's minor attack must have really angered it. "S-senpai !"

"Oh oh!" Upamon shrieked. "This is bad! Follow me!" He cried, and took off running. Or more like bouncing actually, considering he had no legs. Nodding Io followed it, he tugged at En's arm once to get the older boy to follow them.

And they ran.

The sound of Kuwagamon's snapping pincers followed them close behind. Too close. And the sound of trees snapping behind them was only motivating them to run faster.

"It's too big, we can't outrun it!" Io cried, between gasps for breath.

"Don't have too!" Upamon replied, stopping in front of a thick, blue tree. "In here!" And the little yellow had jumped _into_ the tree.

Io and En froze, staring at the tree. Kuwagamon's chattering got closer and- "No time!" En cried, grabbing Io's wrist and holding onto Pukamon tightly as he jumped into the three trunk. 

Both boys were already panting, tired from their run and the fact that were in a room  _inside_ a tree, was slowly sinking in. 

The small space inside the tree was covered in metal, and looked like it was much bigger on the inside

"A hologram right?" Io whispered, slowly sinking down to sit on the ground to look at Upamon. "The tree outside isn't r-real? Right? " 

"It's for hiding." Upamon whispered in reply. Not that really told Io much.

The little digimon flinched when Kuwagamon's roar sounded far too close to their hiding tree.

"Be quiet now." En hissed at Io, pressing the boy's head down.

All of them ducked their heads. Curling up, they tried to keep as silent as possible. The roaring was so close and it felt like an eternity before the sounds finally went away.

And even when the sounds outside stopped, neither of them dared to make a sound. Not till-

"You can come out now. Kuwagamon is gone."

"That voice..." En lifted his head, a smile already forming on his face. "Come on. I know who that is." He told the others, before getting out of the tree.

Sure enough Atsushi was standing a few feet away from the tree, fiddling with the strap of his bag. "En-chan! Io! "The blue-haired boy smiled when his friends came out of the tree. "That was a close one! I saw you run, but Minomon and I couldn't come from our hiding place."

"Don't worry about it Atsu- _Minomon_?"

Io and En looked at the small creature that was floating besides Atsushi's shoulders. It was an odd looking one, it was a small green, bug-like creature whose lower body was sheltered in a pinecone-shaped cocoon.

Atsushi nodded and let go of his bag to grab a hold of his new friend. "En-chan, Io, this is Minomon, my very own... Something or other."

"Hello Atsushi's friend." Minomon shyly greeted En and Io, his cheeks getting slightly greener and the little digimon rested his cheek against Atsushi's shoulder. "Nice to meet you."

"Hi..." En replied awkwardly waving at the small creature.

"He looks harmless." Io stated. Then again so did Upamon and Pukamon. "But he's also like these." Io gestured to where Upamon and Pukamon were sitting, but then another monster bounced up to them.

This one was shaped like a ball, had a white face, and the rest of his body was covered in soft orange fur. This little monster had large red eyes, and a sharp, black horn on top of his head. "Hello!"

"They're multiplying!" Io exclaimed, stepping back in shock.

"Hi!" The new monster introduced himself to the three boys and their partners. The orange fluffball then turned around. "Hey Yumoto! Over here! I found more humans!" 

"Tsunomon!" Yumoto giggled running out from behind the bushes. "You found the others!" The eight-year-old shouted, and sat down in front of the digimon. Laughing, Yumoto picked Tsunomon up and cuddling his partner close. "And there's more fluffy friends here!" Yumoto shrieked in delight. 

"Yumoto!" Chiyo ran out from behind the same bushes Yumoto had come from. "You shouldn't run off! We don't know how many more monsters there are!" 

"Chiyo-san." Atsushi looked at the small furry creature in their camp group leader's arms."You too huh?"

"Yes I'm here too." 

"No," En rolled his eyes. "He means that you found a monster too." 

"Right..." Chiyo looked down at the yellow creature n her arms. A small smile on her face as she ran her fingers through her partner's thick, yellow fur. "Boys, this is Viximon, she was with me when I woke up."

Viximon was the size of a small cat, and looked like a fox cub, only with yellow fur and without a snout. Vixiemon had large, blue eyes and a fluffy yellow tail with a white tip. "Hello other humans." Viximon smiled, lazily waving her tail around, content with her place in Chiyo's arms.

Chiyo looked from the boys, to the small group of monsters gathered at their feet. "Well..." The girl put a hand on her hip. "You sure all made friends."

"Yup!" Pukamon agreed, clapping with his flippers. The other digimon nodded.

Curious, Io knelt down and looked at all the small creatures. They all looked so different. "What are you?" The boy tilted his head. "And that bug from earlier?"

"That's an easy one!" Upamon chirped. "We're digimon."

Atsushi blinked in surprise at the unfamiliar word. "Digimon?"

"Uh huh." Minomon nodded, making a sound without opening his pink mouth. "Digimon. Digital monsters."

"Digital Monsters huh?" En stretched his arms before sitting down with Yumoto on the grass. "That's nice... Well I'm En, and this is not what I signed up for when I went to Summer camp." The eleven-year-old said, turning his annoyed look to Chiyo.

"You think this is part of the progr- Are you nuts!" Chiyo huffed in frustration and ran her hand through her purple hair. "News flash, it's not! This... is all weird."

"It's really not some... scavenging hunt trick?" Atsushi asked, not sure if he was really surprised or not. Part of him had hoped that this had been a weird theme the camp introduced to force them all to be active or something.

Them being forced to do sports was by far the better option, than them having been... transported to this monster nest. "You... really don't know where we are."

ll kids were looking at her, for the first time since they came to Summer Camp, they truly looked at her and thought she'd have the answer, and they were willing to listen to her this time. But... "No..." Chiyo's shoulders sagged, and she felt a pang in her chest when the boys began showing their worry. "It's okay though, I can... find us a way back to camp." She quickly tried to assure them, looking at all five of the rem- Chiyo froze. "There's four of you... Which one of you is still missing?!"

"Pink." Io perked up, looking around, now very aware that his loud, bunk-mate wasn't with them. "Ryuu is still gone."  
  
A loud scream of terror, had them all jumping to their feet and start running in direction the sound came from. They ran to an open field where they saw Ryuu come running towards them from behind a group of trees, still crying out in fear.

At first they thought Ryuu was running away from the small, pink, radish-like monster with a blue flower blooming on her head that was running after him.

It was proven how wrong they were, when Kuwagamon dove up from just behind Ryuu, crushing tree tops as it dived for Ryuu, who screamed and threw himself to the ground. Gasping when gigantic stag beetle flew past him.

"Ryuu!"

The other kids waited for Kuwagamon to have flown past their heads too, before rushing to Ryuu's side.

"Ryuu!" Io called out again, stopping in front of the younger boy who hadn't gotten up yet. "Are you okay? "

The pink-haired boy was panting for air, and slowly sat up. He and Pyocomon had been running from Kuwagamon for a while already. "Io?" Ryuu looked at his friend and then at the others. "You're all here!"

"It's okay Ryuu." The pink digimon who stood at Ryuu's side said, nuzzling her cheek against her partner's knee. "I'll get him next time."

"Right." Ryuu briefly looked at Pyocomon to acknowledge her trying to comfort him, before letting Io pull him to his feet, and drag him along.

Kuwagamon was already coming back for them!

"Keep running!"

As if there was any need for Yumoto's instruction. Everyone had already figured that out, especially with how fast and big Kuwgamon was. The kids grabbed their digimon partners and ran.

Jumping Over fallen tree trunks and tripping over moist grass. Killing flowers in their wake. The kids ran as fast as they could.

"He's too fast!" Yumoto stopped in his tracks, eyes narrowing and first clenching. "We'll have to fight it!" The eight-year-old declared, turning around to face the monster.

Yumoto had only taken one step towards Kuwagamon, when Chiyo grabbed the boy's arm and started dragging him along.

"New camp rule!" Chiyo shouted, tightening her hold on Yumoto's arm. "No fighting with bugs bigger than you!"

They ran onto a dirt path, but there the group was forced to a halt when they reached the edge of a cliff.

Not thinking, En and Atsushi ran to the edge of the cliff and looked down. It was a high fall... that would led them right into a wild, streaming river. "I-it's a dead end!" Atsushi cried out, shuddering and taking several steps backwards to get away from the edge. "What now?"

Chiyo looked around wildly, "We have to find another path." But there was nowhere else to go but the end of the cliff, and the forest they'd came from.

None of the boys got the chance to question her, because right then Kuwagamon emerged from the trees behind them. The kids screamed and fright and ran to En and Atsushi near the edge of the cliff.

Kuwagamon flew towards the kids, roaring loudly in frustration.

"No!" Pukamon yelled, leaping out En's arms and attacking Kuwagamon with pink bubble again. The attack... was just effective as the first time, and the little digimon got thrown to the ground again.

"Pukamon!"

Kuwagamon kept coming closer and the kids threw themselves to the ground. The monster flew low and attempted to tackle them so that he could get them between his pincers. Chiyo, Io, Ryuu and Yumoto screamed when the wind Kuwagamon created with his wings got stronger, strong enough to slowly push the backwards. Centimeter by centimeter.

Realizing that they needed to do something before it was too late, the digimon leaped up. "Digimon attack!" Viximon ordered the rest.

 _"Bubble Blow!"_ Viximon, Pyocomon and Tsunomon shouted, spitting pink bubbles at Kuwagamon.

 _"Shock Shout!_ " Upamon shrieked, letting out a high pitched sound wave to attack his enemy.

 _"Pinecone!"_ Minomon yelled, throwing hard pine-cones at Kuwagamon.

Their attacks hit Kuwagamon at the same time and the red beetle let out a loud screech, but didn't slow down at all. In the end it was just five tiny digimon against a large beetle twenty times their size. 

Their attacks did was make Kuwagamon change course slightly after ramming into them, and the beetle stumbled, bumping into a group of trees.  
And six little monsters all had a painful meeting with the ground.

Slowly, the kids pushed themselves back up, crying out in horror when they saw their new friends lying on the ground, unmoving.

"Pukamon!" En yelled, rushing to the digmon's side and dropping to his knees besides him. "Idiot!" En cried again, carefully lifting the little guy up. "Why- How could you do that?!"

Pukamon groaned, and whimpered before his blue eyes fluttered open. "En..." The digimon winced. "I had to protect you."

Meanwhile the others had gone to their partners' sides too.

Ryuu angrily wiped his eyes, holding Pyocomon close with his other arm. "Pyocomon... That was really, really stupid."

"Tsunomon!" Yumoto didn't try to hide the tears that had filled his eyes at seeing his new friend get hurt. "Are you okay?!"

The little orange, fluff ball just gazed at Yumoto sadly. Why couldn't he be better at protect his partner like how it was supposed to be?

"Why did you do that?" Atsushi whispered, gently stroking his friend's soft green face.

Chiyo looked at her little, fox creature sadly. "Viximon... You- Ah!" Chiyo screamed when she heard that by now, dreadful chattering noise. "It's back!"

This time Kuwagamon didn't even bother to take flight. It didn't have to. It had the chosen children exactly where it wanted them. The monster roared, from its' position on the ground, and began slowly walking towards the group. Loudly snapping its' pincers in threat.

Swallowing nervously, Chiyo put herself in front of the group. This was definitely not how she imagined her summer job at camp.... But she had agreed to watch these boys. And that was what she was gonna do.

None of the kids noticed that they were backing away from the monster, not till there was no more space to back away to .

"Let me have him!"

Blue eyes widened and Chiyo looked down at Viximon. "Viximon? You can't!"

"Yes!" Viximon insisted, starting to wriggle so she could get out of Chiyo's grip. "Let me go! I have to protect you!"

"N-no!"

Behind her, the rest of the kids were having the same problem with their digimon.

"Let me at him! Let me at him!" Pukamon yelled, frantically flapping his flippers to get out of En's hold.

En only held on tighter. "You're staying right here!"

Upamon was squirming too. "I can take him!"

"He'll push you off the cliff!" Io tightened his hold around his digimon. There was no chance that someone as small, and friendly as Upamon could survive a fight against Kuwagamon. "T-there has to be another way."

Yumoto hugged his partner as tightly as he could, this time Tsunomon didn't like being cuddled like that. "Y-you're not going to fight!" Yumoto cried. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Minomon?" Atsushi looked at his partner in worry. "You too?"

"Uh huh!" Minomon nodded frantically. "I can do this!" The little digimon said, hitting Atsushi's arms with his little hands.

Pyocomon was waving with her little, root like feet, trying to get Ryuu to let her go. "Let me fight!"

"In your dreams!" Ryuu shouted, clinging to his partner tighter. "He'll crush you!"

En was having a hard time restraining Pukamon. For such a little guy, he sure could move a lot.

"Sorry En!" Pukamon whispered, large eyes on the arm holding him back. The little digimon took a deep breath before biting down on En's arm, getting the human to release him.

"Attack!" Pukamon cried when he saw the other digimon had followed his example and broke free from the kids' hold and began charging at Kuwagamon as well.

"Pukamon!"

"No! Viximon!"

"Pyocomon!"

"Upamon! Wait!"

"Minomon!"

"Tsunomon!" Yumoto screamed running after his partner, he didn't want to lose his new friend and- he should stay safe! "Tsunomon!"

None of the kids heard that steady beeping sound come from the devices they had gained earlier that day. They didn't hear it, but all of them saw the bright, colorful lights that shot out of the digivices and surrounded their partners.

"Tsunomon digivolve to... Elecmon!"

"Pukamon digivolve to... Gomamon!"

"Upamon digivolve to... Armadimon!"

"Minomon digivolve to... Wormmon!"

"Pyocomon digivolve to... Piyomon!"

"Viximon digivolve to... Renamon!"

When the lights faded, the digimon had... changed.

"They're bigger!" Chiyo exclaimed, eyes trained on the tall, golden fox her partner had become. Her digimon was the tallest of the now changed digimon. She looked like a fox, but stood on her hind legs, and had purple markings on her knees.

The digimon continued on their charge like their change of form wasn't something that shocked them too. Kuwagamon was ready for them though and easily knocked all six digimon to the ground again.

This time the digimon had no trouble getting back to their feet.

"That’s nothing now!" Elecmon declared proudly, feeling so much stronger than before. The red mammal leaned back, looking very much like a cat about to leap at it's prey. " _Sparkling Thunder!_ " He cried, shooting powerful bolts of thunder from it's nine tails.

Kuwagamon screeched in pain when the bolts hit it's head, and the large beetle tried to fly away, but Wormmon was having none of that.

 _"Sticky Net!"_ The green, larva-like digimon yelled, shooting strong webbing from his purple mouth and used it to pull at Kuwagamon's leg, keeping the larger monster from flying away.

"Good move!" Gomamon let out a small laugh. His voice hadn't changed much from when he was still Pukamon. Now in the form of a bigger, white seal, the digimon ran forward and rolled itself passed Kuwagamon's still leg, making the bigger monster trip and fall to the ground. "And stay down!"

Of course that wasn't enough to keep the gigantic beetle down though. Kuwagamon roared and started moving its' wings, trying to break free from Wommon's net.  
"Oh no you don't!" The yellow digimon who looked like an armadillo with claws, cried. _"Scratch Beat!"_ Armadimon cried, scratching Kuwagmon's side with his long, black claws.

"Out of the way, boys." Renamon stepped forward, and spread her arms. _"Diamond Storm!"_ The fox digimon cried, releasing dozens of leaves, as sharp as diamonds, from her body.

Piyomon was flying in the air, flapping her short wings to get closer to Kuwagamon. _"Magical fire!"_   The pink, bird digimon yelled as she created twisting green flames around her beak and sent it flying towards Kuwagamon.

Renamon and Piyomon's attack hit Kuwagamon at the same time, and the beetle digimon screeched, it's upper body lit with green fire, and dozens of leaves were stuck in it's chest. Kuwgamon roared in pain, thin arms frantically waving around.

Till the giant insect fell back wards, landing in the bushes.

The kids stared at the digimon, who all waited with baited breaths to see if Kuwagamon would get back up or not. When the insect digimon remained unmoving, they all turned around, bright grins on their faces as they ran back to their chosen children.

"En!" Gomamon cheered, hopping over to En. "We did it! Did you see En?"

Stunned, En knelt down and looked at this creature. Gomamon looked so different from Pukamon. He had white, smooth fur with purple markings, and he was bigger. He had flippers, hind legs and a tail. But... He still had the same playful grin as before, and those were the same eyes En remembered waking up to earlier that day, even if they looked a little different. "I saw." En nodded, a grin of his own forming. "That was really cool, buddy."

"Tsunomon! You were so cool!" Yumoto laughed running over to Elecmon and picking the red digimon up, hugging him tightly. "And you had an attacked and sparkled! You're awesome!"

Piyomon flapped her wings and glided over to Ryuu. "Did you like it?"

Ryuu had a huge grin plastered on his face. "You bet!"

Nodding Atsushi bent down and picked Wormmon up. "That was impressive."

Renamon stopped two feet away from Chiyo and waited. Much to the girl's surprise, then it dawned on her that her new friend was waiting to be judged. Waiting for her approval. Chiyo smiled and walked over to the fox. "I'm so proud of you!" Chiyo threw herself at her partner, much to Renamon's surprise, and hugged her. "You were so cool!"

"You changed." Io stated looking down at Armadimon. He looked very different, which wasn't that heard considering that Upamon hadn't had an actual body before. Now Armadimon had one, one that was protected by a golden armored shell.

"Sure did." Armadimon nodded. "But I'm still me."

Io looked at his partner hard for a moment, then he smiled. "You are." Io agreed, petting Armadimon's head. "And you did really well out there."

The kids were all laughing and admiring their partner's new forms. They didn't notice Kuwagamon get back up, not until it was too late.

"En-chan! Chiyo-san !" Atsushi shouted in fear, when he saw Kuwagamon approaching them. "Look out!"

Crying out in fear, En, Chiyo and their partners ran back to the others at the edge of the cliff. The digimon got back in a fighting position again, but that didn't change what was about to happen.

They couldn't stop Kuwagamon from stabbing its pincers into the ground, creating cracks in the dirt. Cracks that slowly started to spread, and the cliff broke apart, separating itself from the rest of the land, and fell down.

Taking six screaming children and their digimon along with it, into the streaming cold river below.


	2. No Lackluster Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nine children attending Summer camp were transported by strange devices, to File Island. A place where digital monsters- digimon, lived. But soon after their arrival they were attacked by a ferocious digimon. Kuwagamon. Just when they were driven into a corner, the tiny digimon that followed the kids evolved to stronger forms, fought and won.
> 
> But just when the children thought their new friends had won, Kuwagamon came back and put them all in more danger.

The cliff broke apart, separating itself from the rest of the land, and fell dozens of meters downwards.

Taking six screaming children and their digimon along with it, into the streaming, cold river below.

There was nothing to hold onto, nothing to break their fall. The kids screamed in fear as the water got closer and closer.

"Ryuu!" Piyomon frantically flapped her short wings to reach the pink-haired boy, and grabbed his shirt with her talons. Piyomon managed to slow down Ryuu's fall- For just a few seconds...

Until they both continued falling.

"Hold on!" Wormmon told Atsushi, who was already clinging to him for dear life. _"Sticky Net!"_ Wormmon spat a thick thread of webbing from his mouth and attached the end around a large boulder stuck to the cliff-wall.

Atsushi and Wormmon's fall came to sudden halt, and they swung towards the cliff wall, like swinging from a vine. Atsushi screaming, all the way, terrified they'd slam into the cliff wall. The boy gasped deeply, several times once he realized his fall to the river had stopped. "W-we- we're not fa-!" Atsushi choked, having a hard time swallowing. The boy was positive he could feel his heart pounding in his throat. "Wormmon you saved-"

The thread of Wormmon's webbing snapped, and Atsushi and Wormmon fell down again, now followed by the boulder Wormmon had accidentally pulled loose with his attack.

Gomamon and En were the first ones to hit the water.

En made the mistake of gasping, when he went under, swallowing a mouthful of river water. The boy sputtered, flailing around in the water, desperate for air. He knew how to swim! Heck, En was a very good swimmer. But they'd just fell from a _cliff_ after being chased by a _monster_.

He was beginning to sink, when he faintly heard Gomamon shout something.

_"Marching fishes!"_

Next thing En knew, a school of colorful fishes gathered underneath him, and swam upwards.

Gasping and coughing when he resurfaced, En felt the others land around him too, more than he saw it happening. Once he was no longer coughing up water En opened his eyes, and stared at the... raft, he was sitting on.

He and his companions were sitting on dozens of colorful fishes that were swimming away from the cliff wall. "We're... saved?"

"Not yet!" Ryuu cried pointing at the cliff, brown eyes wide from fear and shock.

The cliff was crumbling even more, now that Kuwagamon stood on the edge. Large boulders falling- straight towards them!

Clinging to Elecmon even tighter, much the little digimon's distress, Yumoto clenched his eyes shut. "It's gonna crush us!"

"Faster!" Gomamon commanded leaning forward.

The boulders missed them just by a few meters, but there was no way to avoid the waves that rose and came from the boulders' impact.

Swimming as fast as they could, the fish tried to remain in position, but one more wave was all it took and the 'raft' fell apart, and an even bigger wave pushed the kids upwards and threw them onto land.

The children moaned, having landed on various places and in different positions at the river side.

"Oh..." Chiyo groaned, laying face-down on the dirt. "What the heck was that?" The girl muttered, pushing herself up in.

En didn't even bother getting up yet. The brown-haired boy remained laying on his back, eyes closed, and head facing the sun. "Pukamon did something to save us..." For a few more seconds En kept his eyes closed. When he finally opened his eyes, En rolled onto his stomach so he could look at the digimon. "...It's not Pukamon anymore now is it?"

"I'm Gomamon now." Gomamon smiled, and lazily wagged his white tail. "And those were my marching fishes. I can control those now."

The little guy seemed really proud of himself and En returned Gomamon's smile fully. "You're becoming a real lifesaver Gomamon."

Grin widening, Gomamon giggled and crawled over to En, and lay down besides him. "That surprise swim wasn’t too bad... but I like lying in the sun like this too."

"You said it buddy." And En closed his eyes again.

"En-chan..." Atsushi sighed, he was about to get up, but paused to look at the green larva-like digimon that was sitting on the ground next to him. "You're not Minomon anymore now, are you?"

"No." Wormmon shook his head. "I'm Wormmon now."

Blinking in confusion, Yumoto loosened his tight hug around his partner. "Tsunomon, what happened to you?" The boy asked while stroking the marks of blue fur, on the otherwise red digimon.

"I'm Elecmon now." Elecmon answered, resigned to Yumoto's cuddling already.

Sighing at the other digimon's pointless replies, Renamon stepped forward. "The change is because we digivolved." She explained, helping Chiyo up. "I went from Viximon to Renamon because of it."

"Digivolve? You mean like evolve?" Io looked at Armadimon, head tilted. "So like... when animals adapt to where they live. Right?"

"Right!" Armadimon nodded. "That's why I went from Upamon to Armadimon."

"You sure got bigger then."

Ryuu had been awkwardly petting Piyomon's feathers. She was soft. "So that's how you went from looking like a flower to being a bird?"

"I did." Piyomon chirped. "I went from Pyocomon, to being Piyomon."

And now it all made sense... not. Even with the digmon's... attempt of explaining what happened- this was a mess. "You're all stronger now, that's for sure." Chiyo observed. It had been so much easier for their new friends to take down Kuwagamon after they evolved. "But are you all still digimon now... or something else?"

"Digimon." Renamon nodded. "Chiyo," The vulpine looked at the tall girl. "I'm glad you came here."

"What?"

"I've never been able to evolve before." Renamon clarified, briefly bowing her head. "I'm sure it's because I've finally met you that I finally managed to digivolve today."

Taken aback by that statement, Chiyo stepped back from the tallest of the digimon. "Because of me?"

The rest of the kids looked at their partners too.

"It's the same for me." Wormmon said before Atsushi could voice his question. "I felt stronger since I met you."

"I see..."

Piyomon laughed, happily flapping her wings to fly slightly above her partner. "It's all thanks to you Ryuu! "

Ryuu's face was twisted into an annoyed pout. "But I don't even know what I did."

"I don't think that's our biggest problem Ryuu." Io got back to his feet and looked around. He then looked up, at the cliff they'd fallen from.

Following Io's gaze, Ryuu's expression fell. They'd fallen from so high! There was no way they could easily get back to where they started. "If people come looking for us, they’ll look there, but... getting back there is hard."

"Go back up?" Atsushi looked up at the cliff, dread filling his stomach, and he toyed with the strap of his bag. "Are there more monsters like Kuwagamon up there?"  
"There are big digimon everywhere." Wormmon replied. "Down here too. There's all kinds of digimon."

"Oh..." Atsushi grimaced, grip around his bag tightening.

Casting her gaze around, Chiyo chewed on her inner cheek. There was no sign of any road, or hiking trail. Then again if there was one... then it meant someone must have made them. "Renamon?" She asked, turning to her partner. "Are there any humans here?"

"Humans?" Renamon repeated. "Like you and your friends?"

"Yes."

Renamon and the other digimon all adopted uncomfortable looks at that question. Though none of them had any experience with humans till today, they all heard the stories.

"Elecmon?" Yumoto easily read his partner's expression. "What's wrong?"

"...There's other humans here."

Yumoto smiled. "That's great right? You can take us to them."

"No..."

This was taking too long. Sighing tiredly, En sat up, sleep forgotten. The eleven-year-old had an annoyed frown on his face. "Come on guys. Spit it out."

It was Renamon who answered. "Over a month ago, three humans appeared... The call themselves the Great Digimon Lords, and claim to be the rightful rulers of this world." Renamon shrugged her fury shoulders. "Stories go that the Digimon Lords have ways to take away a digimon's free will."

"Take away their free will?" Atsushi and Io both shuddered at that though, but for different reasons. One at the thought of purposely harming others and creating so much trouble, at the other at the horrible thought of being stripped of all control.

"Wait," Chiyo stared at her partner. "You're saying they just showed up here and... decided to become rulers?"

"Pretty much yeah." Gomamon nodded.

"Such jerks." Ryuu huffed, crossing his arms

Yumoto nodded vigorously. "Yeah! Someone has to stop them!" And with that said the eight-year-old clenched his fists and started walking forward, only to stop when Chiyo grabbed him by his collar.

"Yeah... No." Chiyo closed her eyes for a moment, to gather her thought. "Lets let those... lords be. Your brother won’t forgive me if something happens to you." And she wouldn't forgive herself either. This summer job was turning out way too different from how she imagined it.... But, she was the oldest, and in charge over this group of kids. "So... Lets go look around."

Grunting, En got to his feet. "Alright." The boy said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and leaning on the balls of his feet. "I saw the ocean earlier, when I climbed a tree."

"You En-senpai?" Ryuu was perplexed. "You climbed a tree?"

"Twice today." En smirked. Sobering up, the boy crossed his arms over his chest. "I say we follow the river to the ocean. Maybe there's a coast guard to take us back to camp."

Impressed, Chiyo nodded. "Good idea. Come on." She waited till each of the boys started walking in direction the river was streaming to, before following after them. It was easiest to watch all of them from the back after all.

* * *

After an hour and a half of following the river stream, with Gomamon swimming in the river of course, the children were finally making progress. Elecmon stopped walking and lifted his head, nostrils flaring.

"I smell the ocean!"

"And I see it!" Gomamon cheered and briefly stopped swimming. "It's right ahead!"

"Good!" Ryuu nodded. "Then we'll..." The boy trailed off, all of them going silent when they heard a very familiar sound. "A phone?"

"Why would a phone be ringing at a place like this?" Io wondered.

The phone kept ringing.

Without exchanging words the group began running towards the source of that sound. They ran all the way towards the ocean, onto the beach where five phone booths lined up near the shore.

Being the first to reach the old fashioned telephone booth, Ryuu opened the booth and grabbed the gray phone. The boy was just starting wonder which of the buttons was for answering it, when the ringing stopped.

"Maybe they didn't want to talk?" Piyomon wondered looking at the phone in confusion.

"Did you answer?" Chiyo asked, once she and the others reached them.

Ryuu shook his head and handed the phone to the older girl. "They hang up on me.... I think."

Confused Chiyo took the phone and stared at it. "Why would there even be phone booths here?" She walked into the booth, and nodded to herself. "There's one of these near my house too."

"So..." Atsushi gained a hopeful look on his face. "That must mean we're still in Japan after all."

"Japan?" Wormmon tilted his head. "Atsushi, what is that?"

Seconds ticked by while Atsushi stared at his partner, finally the boy gave in and sighed loudly. "Or maybe we're.... really far away from home."

Shrugging Ryuu jumped out of that phone booth and walked over to the ones besides it, already searching through his pockets for change.

"What are you doing?" Io asked.

"I'm gonna call baba-chan." Ryuu answered getting into the booth. "Maybe she can call the police and they'll come with a boat or something."

"Good idea." Io started walking to another phone booth. "Maybe there's some some cash left in one of these."

"I'm calling An-chan!"

"I want to call my sister too."

"I'm calling my mom." Getting in the phone booth, En grabbed the phone and paused, trying to recall the phone number. Turns out it was good that his mom had him memorize her number.

Although En doubted his mom had 'stranded on an island with monsters' in mind when she said it was good for him to know her number, in case of emergencies.  
Dialing the number, En didn't give him mom much time to answer. "Hey mom, camp is terrible-"

 _"The time is now 35:05:00. Beep, beep, BEEP."_ And the strange, robotic voice hung up.

En pulled the phone back from his ear, scowling. "My mom lost it?"

_"Tomorrow's weather will be sunny with occasional ice cream."_

"Right." Ryuu put the phone back. "This one doesn't work either.

_"This number is no longer in service. Stop calling it's pointless!"_

Atsushi put the phone back, and came out of the booth with a forlorn expression on his face. "None of them work."

"One of them has to." Chiyo insisted, getting back into the phone booth. She was the only one who hadn't given up yet. The others had stopped trying after their first failed attempt.

Letting out a tired huff, Yumoto dropped down in the warm white sand.

Thinking the kid had the right idea, En lay down besides Yumoto and Elecmon. When he saw his partner sunbathing Gomamon laughed and ran over to En, where he lay down too. "Nice and warm."

"Uh huh."

"Tired huh?" Atsushi chuckled and sat down as well. "We've had... a weird day so far."

"I'll say."

Io, Ryuu and their partners sat down with the rest of their group. "Too bad the phones don't work." Ryuu commented, watching Chiyo try calling the camp administration again. "Not like my own phone is working though." He said reaching into the pocket of his shorts, but stopping when he hand brushed over something else.

Pulling back, Ryuu saw that same device that had fallen from the sky, only now it was attached to his belt. "I still have this." The boy commented, grabbing the device and showing it to the rest.

"Yeah?" Atsushi looked down, not for the first time, aware of the device clipped to the strap of his bag.

"I got mine too." Yumoto chirped, patting his bag. "I'd rather have more food now though."

"Really?" En searched his pockets. He remembered having been holding his device as well. "I don't have- Oh." It was in the inside pocket of his blue jacket. "Mine stayed with me too."

"I've got mine here as well." Io stated, glancing at the strap of his dark yellow, laptop bag where he kept his tablet. "I'll have to look into it and see what it is later...." Io's stomach growled loudly and the boy trailed off, cheeks reddening.

"After we eat!" Yumoto giggled, putting his backpack down on the sand. "Who else brought food?"

"My backpack is still in the bungalow." Ryuu shrugged. "All I got with me are some band aids and my phone... which isn't working."

Face falling, Io also put his bag down and opened it to reveal his tablet and some coins. "This is all I have with me."

"You plan on carrying that with you the whole time?"

"I- yes." Io nodded, and then looked at En. "What about you En-senpai?"

"Me?" En shrugged. "Nothing. Not like any of us planned to go to... File Island."

"Aw that's too bad En-chan-senpai." Yumoto replied. "Now there's not enough for beach picnic." The eight-year-old opened his red backpack and started taking stuff out.

"No way!"

Two bags of potato chips, a pack of crackers, four bags of sugary candy and even a small box filled with Yumoto's favorite food. Rice balls.

"So much candy..."

"Uh huh." Yumoto smiled at Ryuu. "An-chan wanted me to have lots of snacks. I think he wanted to go to camp too maybe, but he needs time on his own to be..." The boy's expression turned for a few seconds.Then Yumoto shook his head and smiled again. "You can have some too Ryuu-senpai." Yumoto said holding out a bag of candy to Ryuu.

But Atsushi snatched it away before Ryuu could take it. "We need to make sure everyone will get enough food first!"

"Eh?!" Yumoto and Ryuu's eyes were only on the bag of sweets in Atsushi's hand.

Shaking his head, Io looked at the older boy. "And what do you have?"

"Me?" Atsushi opened his bag and started emptying it. "I have solid fuel, a Swiss army knife, a compass, a flashlight and some matches, rope, and a first aid kit." By the time he was finished Atsushi had an impressive pile of camp supplies in front of him, and the others were all staring at him, shocked.

Becoming aware that everyone was looking at him, Atsushi turned red. "I... I never went to camp before, so I borrowed my father's old gear."

"Well," En smiled. "You don't normally bring that stuff to camp, but it's will sure by handy now."

Atsushi's blush faded a bit, and the boy smiled. "You think so?"

"Sure." En nodded.

"No food though." Ryuu said, still waiting for Atsushi to give the bag of candy back. Looking around the boy's brown eyes on Chiyo, who was still trying to call camp, more specifically, he looked at the large gray bag with on it, slung over her shoulder.

"Io?" Ryuu looked at his bunk mate. "The emergency bag has food in it right?"

Following Ryuu's gaze, the ten-year-old nodded. "It has to, have enough for a group in case... in case they get separated from the rest of camp..."

"As in now." En stated, and looked over at the phone booths. "Oi! Chiyo-san!"

Just about to try another number on the phone, Chiyo sighed and covered the horn. "Be quiet kids! I'm trying to call for help."

"Oneechan!"

"What is it Yumoto?"

"Can we have lunch now?!"

"What?" Realizing all five boys were looking at her bag, Chiyo looked at it too. The girl felt her heart sink. She hadn't imagined actually needing to use that extra ration of food, especially so soon.

It was just a little past noon... and who knew how long they'd be there. She didn't know how long it would take to get them all back to camp and the food- Her stomach growled, and girl hung her head.

"Time to eat?" Renamon guessed.

"Yes." Chiyo nodded, as they started walking over to the group. "Alright." She put the bag on the sand and sat down as well. "My instructor said that each group has been giving enough extra food to last just about three days." Chiyo said, unpacking the food, and putting it all near Yumoto's pile of junk food. "And if we add Yumo-chan's sweets to it... we'll have enough food to last..."

"Four and a half days." Io supplied helpfully.

"Right, so let's eat and-"

"Wait," Atsushi had a deep frown on his face. "We have enough to feed a group of six, but if you add the digimon to it... we only have enough food for two days."

The kids' faces fell, at that revelation, but thankfully their partners wouldn't let them worry for long.

"Don't worry, you don't have to include us in your calculation." Renamon said, nodding at Atsushi. "We can scavenge for our own meals."

"Yup." Armadimon added. "It's what we did before you arrived."

"That will make things easier." Io smiled and reached for the box of crackers he'd been eyeing, only to find them gone already.

Looking to their right the group saw where the missing food had gone to. En was leaning back again, gulping down a can of grape soda, and sharing the bag of crackers with Gomamon. "Tastes good right buddy?"

"En!" Chiyo screeched. "We just agreed the food is for humans only!"

"Don't be a pain." En whined, rolling his eyes. "The digimon are hungry now too, so let..." En fell quiet when they all felt a light tremor in ground.

The digimon all jumped to their feet and instinctively put themselves in front of the humans.

"Elecmon! What's happening?"

"Trouble!"

The shaking in the ground got harder and more violent. The phone booths quivered and then, burst out of the ground, water shooting out from underneath them.  
The phone booth landed on the sand, dented and shattered pieces of glass landing all around them.

More holes opened in the ground, and the kids ran away from their bags when one geyser burst open near them. There sand rose... and something big came from it. Another digimon, this one even bigger than Kuwagamon had been.

It had a large, gray seashell on its' back that made the monster look like a shellfish. Its' body was pink, soft and looked like that of a dinosaur. A dinosaur with green tentacles on its' head.

"It's Shellmon!" Armadimon exclaimed taking a step forward. "This must be his territory!"

Shellmon pushed his huge, squishy arms further out of his shell, and roared.

* * *

**Digimon Analyzer:**

_Shellmon, an aggressive adult level digimon._

* * *

"E-everyone!" Chiyo swallowed, and stepped back, arms spread to keep the boys behind her. "Run!" But before she could make a run for it, Shellmon lowered his head and shot a ray of water from the hole on top of his head, which hit Chiyo right in the chest, pushing the poor girl several feet backwards.

"Chiyo!"

Renamon tried to run to her friend's aid, but Shellmon directed his attack at her next, pressing her against the sand.

"Guys! Lets go!" Gomamon cried out, leading the rest of the digimon forward.

"You can do it Elecmon!"

Grinning with pride, Elecmon leaned down so his tails were up in the air. _"Sparkling Thunder!"_

But only two tiny blue sparks flashed of his tails and those sparks faded away before they could even reach Shellmon.

"It's okay!" Gomamon leaped over Armadimon's shell and threw himself at Shellmon. He spin himself around in midair, and hit Shellmon's with his tail. "Hiiiya! In your face!"

Piyomon flew near the monster's large head. " _Magical fi_ -" The green flames disappeared as soon as they formed around her beak. The little bird-digimon groaned, lower herself slightly.

Rolling up into his shell, Armadimon charged forward. _"Rolling Stone!_ " Only... he wasn't able to roll all the way to Shellmon, and the pink monster roared, roughly pushing Armadimon away, with its' large, squishy hands.

"Armadimon!"

"What's going on?!" Yumoto asked, looking at the others for answers. "Their attacks were better earlier!"

Having pushed herself to her feet, Renamon clenched her fist. _"Power Paw!_ " When her fist was enveloped by a blue flame, Renamon ran towards Shellmon, and jumped up, punching the monster's shoulder.

The flame was already out by then...  
  
_"Sticky Net!"_ Wormmon tried his attack next, but couldn't even form webbing in his mouth to shoot at Shellmon.

Shellmon roared in annoyance and swung his arm at Renamon and Wormmon, pressing them to ground. The monster then lowered his head again, blasting out water from the opening there between the tentacles, pushing all his attackers to the ground.

"Piyomon!"

"Wormmon!"

"Gomamon!"

The kids didn't hesitate with running to their new friends' aid. "Renamon!" Chiyo shivered, helping the fox into a sitting position. "You have to get up!"  
"It's okay!" Gomamon shouted before En could reach for him. He was the only one of the digimon able to get back to his feet. "I can do this!" And with that shout, the water mammal digimon ran towards Shellmon again.

"Wormmon!" Atsushi took the larva-like digimon in his arms. "Where does it hurt?"

"I don't get it." Ryuu murmured, carefully holding Piyomon in his arms. "How come only Gomamon can fight?!"

"Hungry..."

"What?" Ryuu tightened his hold on the bird and tried to stand up.

"So hungry..." Piyomon whispered, keeping her eyes closed.

Armadimon hung his head. "Too tired..."

"But..." Io looked away from his partner, and watched Gomamon taunt Shellmon, continuously scratching at the monster's arm. En had gone closer to the battle too.

"It's because En-chan and Gomamon ate already." Atsushi realized, getting up as well, Wormmon still in his arms. "The others don't have the energy to fight."

Having heard them En nodded to himself. "Heard that Gomamon? Looks like it's up to us now!"

"Alright!" Gomamon nodded and attacked Shellmon again.

Wanting to direct the monster's attention away from the others En got closer to Shellmon. "Oi! Over here you stupd, pain in the ass monster! Leave them alone!" En was thinking of getting closer- wondering how long Gomamon would be able to keep this up all on his own, when a red blur ran past him.

"YUMOTO!" Chiyo shrieked, horrified when the eight-year-old suddenly ran away from the group. Atsushi grabbed her arm, to make sure the teenager didn't run to the monster too.

Yumoto had been quiet this whole time. Hugging Elecmon close, the eight-year-old watched Shellmon the whole time, and when it became clear that their new friends were simply very hungry, Yumoto's attention went to their bags and the food.

The food was just behind Shellmon, if he could just get it for the rest-! Then they could all fight and it would be okay!

So Yumoto carefully put Elecmon down, and ran.

"Come back here!" Chiyo yelled trying to step forward again, freezing when her shout gained them Shellmon's attention.

Yumoto didn't look back and ran straight for his backpack. "I got it!" The blond boy cheered, clutching his red bag to his chest. "You can all eat!"

En stared at the boy, amazed with how fast Yumoto had run, and for a moment En returned Yumoto's grin.

Then the moment was over.

And Shellmon became aware of the little boy behind him, and lowered his head.

"Look out!" En ran as fast as he could. Till arriving in the Digital World, the lazy boy had never run so much, or so fast... "Yumoto!"

Somehow sensing the shadow looming over him, Yumoto tensed up and slowly turned around. The boy's eyes widened when he saw Shellmon's green tentacle coming towards him.

"Yumoto!"

En tackled Yumoto out of the way, getting himself caught in Shellmon's tentacle instead.

"En-chan-senpai!"

En screamed when he was lifted into the air, the tentacle painfully tight around his waist, and arms were pressed to tight against him. "Let go!"

"EN!" Gomamon tried swinging his tail at Shellmon again, but the pink monster roared, raised his large hand and squished Gomamon, who cried out it in pain. "Let him go!"

Shellmon shook his large head and blasted water at the remaining kids and their partners, who screamed when the rough water pushed them away and kept them from getting up.

"Stop it!" En cried, fighting to get out of the tentacle. "L-leave them alone! You'll- AH!" En _screamed_ when the tentacle tightened around him, tears stung his eyes and the eleven-year-old swore he could hear his ribs begin to crack. "I-! I can't b-breath!" The boy wheezed.

Gomamon gasped, frantically fighting to get out from underneath Shellmon's hand. "EN!" This couldn't be happening! He finally met En and now- No! He couldn't let this happen! He had to protect his friend. "En!"

White light shot out of the device in En's pocket, and envelopde Gomamon, whose green eyes widened at the surge of power he felt.

_"Gomamon digivolve to.... Ikkakumon!"_

Gomamon's new form was so much bigger. He had become an enormous, arctic animal-like sea digimon, one similar to a walrus- large teeth included. Body covered in thick white fur, four heavy, clawed black feet, and a large sharp horn on top of his head, Ikkakumon was an impressive sight to behold.

Now too big to for Shellmon to stand or lean on, Ikkakumon easily pushed the pink digimon off of him, and threw Shellmon backwards, who roared in surprise, letting go of En in the process.

En gasped when he was suddenly released and flailed around as he fell down. However, instead of the surely painful meeting with the ground, which the boy expected, En landed on top of a furry back.

For a few seconds En just choked for air, gripping handfuls of white fur. Then he slowly became aware of the situation. "G-Gomamon?" En breathed, once he finally filled his lungs with the air they needed.

"It's Ikkakumon now." Ikkakumon's voice was much rougher than Gomamon's childlike voice.

"Okay, whatever you want to be called buddy." En nodded, grip on Ikkakumon's fur loosening. "You evolved again... Let's get this over with."

"Yes. Hold on tight!" Ikkakumon nodded and turned his attention to Shellmon who had already gotten back up and was glaring at him.

 _"Hydro Pressure!"_ Shellmon shot high pressure from his head again.

Ikkakumon didn't even move out of the way. The ray of water hit him, but his thick fur protected him from being pushed back. " _Harpoon Volcano_!" Ikkakumon fired his horn from his head, like it was a torpedo. Another horn immediately grew back in its' place.

The horn hit Shellmon's chest, and shelled digimon was shoved back into the ocean. Taking advantage of the enemy's momentum, Ikkakumon ran forward and rammed his head against Shellmon's side, sending the other monster flying miles back into the ocean, where Shellmon quickly swam further away from the beach.

En watched Shellmon swim away from them as fast as it could, and the boy grinned. "You did it! You- whoa!"

Ikkakumon glowed brightly and slowly shrank back to being Gomamon who curled up on the sand, causing En to make a quick descent to the ground too.

"Gomamon!" En quickly took ahold of his partner and put him on his lap. "Gomamon! Are you hurt?!"

"En..." Gomamon yawned, resting his head against En's knees. "Do we still have those crackers? I'm hungry."

"You..." En smiled and nodded. "Of course! Let's eat." And perhaps a long nap afterwards too, yes that sounded nice. Who knew that getting squished by a tentacle was so... _draining_.

* * *

The 'workroom' was completely dark like always, the only light that shone came from the various monitors that hang from the ceiling. Three young boys, dressed in black military commander suits, had watched the chosen children's first battle.

"They won..." The youngest of the three murmured, scowling as he played with a strand of his pink hair that had fallen free from his braid.

Arima nodded, head tilted as he watched their camp mates run to each other and check up on each other. "So strange, I was sure that sending Shellmon after them would have done the trick." That thing was like a giant sea snail. It should have terrified the others.

"They shouldn't have won." Kinshirou glared at the screen. " _He_ shouldn't have won!"

"It's alright children."

Turning around at the sound of that voice, the three great digimon lords bowed at the sight of their leader.

"Devimon-sama." Kinsirou lifted his head. "I am sorry for failing you."

"It's alright Kinshirou." Devimon's gray mouth was twisted into a smirk, and the fallen-angel-type digimon's red eyes glowed in amusement. "The game has only just begun."

* * *

"There you go." Yumoto grinned opening the last bag of candy and placing it on the sheet in front of the digimon. "Eat as much as you want."

All of them had dried up from Shellmon's water attack already, and were having a small lunch from the food that hadn't been crushed or ruined. The 'only for the humans' idea was quickly dropped now that they knew the digimon needed to eat to have the energy to use their attacks.

"Now that the phones are broken there really is no reason for us to stay on the beach." Io pointed out, poking one of the broken phone booths with his foot.

Chiyo nodded, briefly looking at the ocean. "We should leave before Shellmon comes back... Maybe we should head back to the forest.

"We fell from a cliff and went downstream." Atsushi reminded the rest of the group. "Getting back won't be easy."

"I don't want to see Kuwagamon again!" Ryuu didn't turn away from the pile of food either. "Can't someone come find us from here?"

"Hmm..." En sat up at that, rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes. "You're right."

"Of course. Why?"

"Someone put those phones here." En shrugged as if that explained everything. "So maybe there's humans here too."

The others fell quiet at that statement, realizing the logic behind that. "En-chan is right." Atsushi concluded. "There have to be humans here, we just need to look. Maybe they can help us get back."

"I'll go where you go." Wormmon got up too, a look of determination on his small face.

"I guess it's settled then." Chiyo got to her feet and grabbed the emergency bag. "Everyone make sure you have all your stuff, and let's go!"


	3. Fox Tail Inferno

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I must protect these kids no matter the cost." As these thoughts weigh over Chiyo's head and to make matters worse the group is attacked twice by more monsters. How can kids handle battles like this?

The kids had already walked miles away from the beach, and by the looks of it they'd be entering the forest again soon. Their hike had mostly been silent so far, and the group had stopped near a bunch of large boulders, for a short break.

En gazed at the ocean, thoughts still on their earlier battle. Bruises were already forming on his arms, and the boy's torso felt sore. En wasn't thinking of his new injuries though. En was still thinking of the large, fury beast his partner had become to save him.

"...Gomamon?"

"Yeah En?" Gomamon grinned looking up at En.

"You were really big as Ikkakumon earlier." En stated, that thoughtful frown still in place. "Why didn't you stay like that?"

"Hm..." Gomamon fell quiet, and looked at the ground as he searched himself for an answer, finally the little creature looked up and smiled. "I don't know."

"What?!" En didn't get the chance to ask how Gomamon didn't know about digivolving and how he was able to do it twice- he couldn't ask because right then another monster appeared, and came from behind the large rock Io and Ryuu had been sitting on.

It was a gray... dinosaur. A triceratops, covered in dark gray body armor and with one sharp, steel horn on it's muzzle.

"What is that?!"

"It's Monchromon!" Wormmon answered his partner, jumping to the ground. "But it's okay! He's usually very friendly."

* * *

 **Digimon Analyzer:**  
_Monochromon, an armored digimon whose horn is as hard as an diamond. It is usually docile, but when angered he will fight till the bitter end._

* * *

"You say that," Ryuu jumped off the boulder and quickly helped Io to the ground too. "But he's coming towards us and I don't like how mad he looks!"

Monochromon got closer and closer to them. The monster opened his mouth, exposing quite a large set of pointy teeth, and roared.

"Maybe he needs a hug?" Yumoto suggested, a look of determination on his face.

Chiyo grabbed Yumoto's arm before the boy could step forward. She had already figured out that Yumoto would hug just about anything. "Stay put!" The girl gasped when another Monochromon walked out from behind the boulders too.

"There's two of them!" Atsushi gasped. The boy tried to step back, but only pressed his back further against the boulder. "We're trapped between them!"

Recognizing the stance the two dinosaur-like digimon had taken, Chiyo paled. "Up!" She cried giving Yumoto a push so he could climb on the boulder and get down on the other side. "They're gonna attack each other!"

En, Atsushi and the digimon hurriedly climbed over the boulder as well. Chiyo urged Ryuu to climb faste, but the pink-haired boy paused and moved to help Io climb too, eyes widening when he saw that the other boy was still staring at the Monochromon. "Io! Move!"

There was something on the Monochromon's side. No, not on their sides, but _in_ their sides. It was black and looked like a wheel... or a gear? It was stuck inside the digimon's side, one of the few places where the armor didn't reach...

"IO!"

Ryuu and Armadimon's shout snapped the ten-year-old out of his thought, Io jerked his head up, gasping when he saw both Monochromon racing towards each other- They'd squish him!

"Here!" Ryuu leaned down over the boulder, Chiyo and the others held onto the boy's legs as Ryuu landed down and quickly grabbed Io's hands. Together they managed to pull Io over the boulders and to the other side, before the Monochromon rammed into each other.

Io ended up toppled off the boulder right on time, landing on the dirt and scraping his knee.

Armadimon was at his side in an instant, looking at the red spot on his partner's knee in worry. "Io!"

"Are you alright?" Ryuu asked, offering his hand and helping Io up.

"Yes." Io nodded, wincing when he felt the cut on his knee. "It is minor." He hadn't hurt himself like that in a long while. Io didn't mention what he'd seen on the Monochromon. For all he knew Monochromon were supposed to look like that. It was best to wait and gather more information, before drawing conclusions.

Already reaching into his bag, Atsushi stepped forward. "I can clean the cut, I have band-aids too, you can chose a color and-"

The kids tensed when they heard the Monochromon roar behind them.

"Atsushi-senpai you can do that once we're away!" Yumoto exclaimed, jumping up. "We need to run!"

No further words needed to be said. The kids ran away from the boulders, dragging each other along when it seemed one of them slowed down.

* * *

Like always the lords were in the workroom, located underneath the mansion. The three boys watched the monitors, some of which showed places of the continent they had already conquered, some monitors showed the destruction the newly enslaved digimon were causing, but most monitors were focused on one thing.

The chosen children.

"The Monochromon were a waste of time." Kinshirou stated, glaring at the screen.

"We did almost get Naruko though." Akoya pointed out, letting go of the strand of hair he'd been toying with. Too bad that Naruko was almost the first to be defeated. Io was the only one of their peasant camp-mates worthy of being chosen, or going against them.

"That's not enough!"

"At least my choice did something."

"Don't worry," Arima clasped his hands together, wanting to prevent another argument between Kinshirou and Akoya. "They only showed up this morning, we have enough time to wipe them out of the program."

The three children didn't pay any attention to the three child-level digimon who stood behind them, watching them with worry. Their partners had gotten... worse, since their opponents showed themselves.

"Kin-san, maybe you should give them a moment to recov-"

"Not now Pawnchessmon." Kinshirou brushed the digimon off, and turned his back away. Kinshirou's partner, as its' name suggested, looked like the white chess piece. A pawn. On the place where his eyes would be, the digimon had a golden armor piece, like one that would be on the helmet of a knight.

Green eyes narrowed, as Kinshirou glared at the monitors. "Our next attack won't fail." The eleven-year-old muttered, clenching his gloved fists. "They'll be defeated and we can claim our rightful place as rulers of this world!"

* * *

The sun was beginning to set. The sky had turned to brilliant shades of yellow and pink, the colors melting into each other beautifully. Random road signs were attached to some trees, and some were places in between the plants. Their meaning irrelevant.

Sounds of foreign birds and insects filled the air, and kids tried not to dwell that those sounds would be from digimon, and not actual birds or insects.  

"Looks like it's getting late." Atsushi commented. He stopped walking and looked at the sky. "What should we do? It's gonna be even more dangerous here once it's dark."

Chiyo looked at the sky, allowing herself a moment to appreciate how beautiful, the foreign sky looked. This place would likely be even more... monster infested, once it got dark, and they had no food or shelter either. "Maybe we should-"

"Wait!" Elecmon jumped forward, sniffing the air. "I smell something! This way!" And the red digimon took of running.

"Elecmon!" Yumoto ran after his partner. "What did you find?!" The boy laughed, already enjoying the chase.

"No more running..." En sighed dramatically and lingered behind with Gomamon as the others ran after Yumoto and Elecmon.

Much to En's surprise Atsushi paused when he noticed En wasn't following them. Atsushi stood there, and looked at En with a small frown on his face. "You're still hurt from when Shellmon caught you, aren't you?"

"Eh?" How did Atsushi figure it out? En raised an eyebrow at his friend, but didn't vocalize his question.

"I know you don't like active things like running." Atsushi went on. "But I also know En-chan is smart enough to want to stay with us when in a place like this." The boy finished with a small smile.

That made sense, that was just like the other, En decided. Looking out for others people and taking care of them. "It’s not that bad."

"Good. Uhm, I think I have advil with me in the first aid kit." Atsushi told his friend. "I can give you some when we stop for the night."

"Thanks," En returned Atsushi's smile. "Let's follow the others before they get themselves in trouble."

Atsushi chuckled as they started to walk in the direction the others had ran off to. "You know, you sound kind old when you say things like that."

"What?"

"He does, doesn't he?" Gomamon added laughing quietly.

"You too?!" The eleven-year-old cried in protest. "I don't sound or look ol-"

"Atsushi! En!"

"We're coming!"

Chiyo didn't sound that far away, so whatever Elecmon had smelled was near. En and Atsushi followed to noise and easily found the rest of their group, standing at a lake.

"Elecmon found clean water!" Yumoto cheered waving the older boys over. "And that's not all!"

The lake was located in a large clearing in the forest, it was huge, the biggest lake the kids had ever seen and- filled with antenna towers. Dozens of them stood at random in the huge lake.

"Well kids," Chiyo put on a smile as she put her bag down on the floor. "Looks like we found a good place to set up camp."

"Really?" Ryuu's eyes widened. The boy grinned and shared a look with Yumoto. Camp without bungalows or beds, sounded way more thrilling than what they'd done at... actual camp so far.

Fighting down a grimace, Chiyo nodded. Yumoto and Ryuu may see this as a big adventure, but the girl wasn't too pleased with the prospect having them all sleep on the cold ground, out in the open. What if it rained, or more monsters showed up? "Looks like we have no-"

Lights went on, and an electrical buzz had the kids turning around. Six pairs of eyes widened.

There was a small island in the lake, not too far from shore, it was connected to the land by a simple stone bridge. But what really got their attention was the trolley, placed there in the middle of the small island. A trolley that went, there no tracks or lines, and the lights flaring.

"Maybe someone's inside." Atsushi suggested, stepping forward. Without further words they started walking towards the trolley. "Someone turned the lights on!"

The kids ran over the bridge, Yumoto and Elecmon got inside the trolley first. "Hello!" The eight-year-old greeted loudly.

Only there was no one in the trolley.

"Hello?" Elecmon called out again.

"It's really empty." Io observed, walking further into the trolley. "This trolley still looks pretty new."

"And the cushions are pretty soft." Chiyo added sitting down on the chair, smiling, oh yes looked like they had found their beds for the night. "It's no bungalow, but it will do."

"It's such a pain though." En sighed tiredly, and looked at the controls. There was no sign of there ever having been a passenger or driver in here. "First those phones, now this."

Atsushi nodded and trailed his fingers over one of the buttons. "Let's hope it won't drive on it's own." It was meant to be a joke, but considering the lights in the trolley had gone on on their own, Atsushi didn't know how serious he should take his own words.

"Atsushi?"

"Yes Wormmon?"

"Can we go look for food now?"

"R-right!" Atsushi smiled at his partner and turned to Io. "I can clean up that cut on your leg now."

* * *

Surprisingly deciding on how to look for food hadn't been that hard. With the supplies Atsushi took from his dad, he and En made fishing hooks and went fishing by the lake. Gomamon chasing the fish towards them, and Wormmon catching some with his sticky net attack.

Io, Ryuu and their partners searched the trees and bushes near the lake for fruit. None of the fruits they found looked like anything the two kids had ever seen before, but Armadimon and Piyomon assured them that all those fruits were safe to eat.

Chiyo, Yumoto, Elecmon and Renamon had looked for wood, which they just finished putting in a neat pile on the island, and had surrounded the pile with rocks, so the fire would stay in one place.

"Great we have supplies and all, but where is Atsushi with the matches?" Chiyo commented, stepping back from the pile of wood.

"Who needs matches?" Piyomon flew over to them, Ryuu, Io and Armadimon were a few feet behind her.

The pink bird flew near the pile of wood, and grinned. " _Magical Fire!"_ Green flames formed around her beak, and them landed on the pile of wood, setting it on fire.

"That's so great Piyomon!" Ryuu beamed at his partner who practically glowed at that praise.

A few minutes later En, Atsushi and their partners walked towards the campfire, carrying piles of fish. "We're gonna have a good diner today." Atsushi told them smiling happily, the prospect of having a nice dinner, and a relative safe place to sleep, had soothed his nerves greatly.

"Definitely looks like it." Chiyo nodded and grabbed the extra sticks she and Yumoto had gathered, and stuck it through a fish's mouth, then the dark-haired girl stuck the stick in the sand, close to the fire. "Like this boys." Chiyo said, signaling the boys to copy her.

It didn't take long for them to grill all the fish, even though some of their food did end up a bit burned. It had gotten dark fast, so the kids and their digimon sat close by the fire, hungrily munching on their dinner.

Already full, Chiyo and Atsushi grabbed the hollow bamboo-like sticks, Renamon had cut for them, and walked over to the lake, to fill the bamboo with water. They were quietly busy, Atsushi's gaze on the sky, looking at the stars, till Ryuu came running towards them.

"Chiyo-san?"

"Yes kid?"

"You're not Yumoto's sister right?"

"Nope." Chiyo looked away, her attention back on the bamboo.

"Okay, but you knew him before camp? And his brother too?"

"I'm friends with Yumoto's brother." Chiyo replied pulling the bamboo cup out of the lake. Even then she didn't look away from the lake. "Some things happened, and I suggested Yumoto should go to the camp I would do volunteer work this Summer." Gora needed time alone and Yumoto needed a distraction but- And if she had just led them all back to the main meeting room when that snow storm hit, none of them would have been there when those devices fell from the sky. "So it's because of me that yo- Yumoto is here."

"What stuff hap-"

"It doesn't make sense."

"Kinugawa-Senpai?" Ryuu blinked, looking at the older boy. "What is it?" He asked, a child's curiosity easily wavering from one thing to another.

"I was trying to figure out where we are." Atsushi answered, still looking at the sky. "But there's no sign of the North Star."

"What?" Even more worried now, Chiyo looked at the sky as well. Her blue-eyes widened. It was a clear night, and there weren't any buildings or street lights anywhere to ruin the view of the dozens of stars that lit up the sky. None of which looked familiar. "I don't recognize any constellation or anything."

"Does that mean we're in the South?" Ryuu questioned, guessing that a North Star was a north only thing.

Atsushi shook his head. "I don't see the Southern Cross either."

"...Okay?" Lost on the topic, Ryuu failed at stifling a yawn. "You go look at stars senpai..." The nine-year-old mumbled as he turned around and walked back to where Io and Yumoto were sitting by the fire.

Yumoto was already dozing off, clutching the sleeping Elecmon to his chest. Io was leaning his back against Armadimon's shell, who had already curled up and fallen asleep. Io was busy trying to get his tablet working again face illuminated by the blank tablet screen. Despite the focused expression on the ten-year-old's face, every once in a while Io's head nodded forward and he had to shake himself back awake.

Surprisingly, En and Gomamon were the only ones at the fire who seemed wide awake. The brown-haired boy sat close to the fire, occasionally he looked sleepy, but by now all of them were aware that sleepy basically was En's standard expression.

Atsushi yawned and pulled the bamboo stick out of the lake. "I think it's late." He informed Chiyo. "We should go to bed."

Nodding, Chiyo got to her feet as well and followed Atsushi to the others. "We should take turns standing guard, in case there's an attack."

"Right."

En lazilly raised his hand. "I'll go first." He offered, shocking everyone.

"What?!"

En shrugged. "Better I stay up now, then one of you waking me later when I'm asleep."

"I suppose he has a point." Io pointed out after several seconds of silence.

Shrugging Chiyo nodded her head. "Fine. I'll take second watch, and Atsushi can take third. The younger ones don't have to stand guard."

"Hey!" Ryuu protested loudly.

"I can stand watch too, you know?" Io stated, scowling in irritation.

Their yelling woke Yumoto who nodded along with them, even though the eight-year-old wasn't sure what Io and Ryuu were yelling about. "Me too!"

Atsushi actually chuckled at that. "Come on, let's go to the trolley."

* * *

Putting some large leaves on the trolley floor for extra warmth, made it the right sleeping place for the digimon. The kids all settled on the chairs in the trolley, trying to find comfortable positions to sleep in. Considering how tired they all were, it wasn't hard to find a good comfy position.

Yumoto yawned, curling up on one of the large chairs, Elecmon in his arms again. "Night night!"

"Good night."

 _'A bath before sleep would be nice...'_ Yumoto thought, stroking Elecmon's fur. A nice hot bath with An-chan, just like how they did when mom and dad were still... The boy was fast asleep, his trail of thought disappearing into dreamland.

 _'I hope no monsters attack when we sleep._ ' Ryuu hummed and snuggled closer to the warm thing behind him.

Io sighed sleepily when he felt pink hair tickle his arm. He didn't move to get Ryuu off of him though, he was already half asleep. _'It's gonna be odd spending so much time with everyone.'_

Putting his glasses in his pocket, Atsushi leaned against the soft green cushions and closed his eyes. _'I hope everything will be back to normal when we wake up.'_

Chiyo kept her eyes open and watched the boys fall asleep. An eight-year-old, a nine-year-old, a ten-year-old and an eleven-year-old. Kids. Not even pre-teens. Two of them saw this as an adventure, one of them considered this an inconvenience, and the last seemed to be the only one of the kids who saw this as this as the true dangerous situation it was.

 _'Let's do volunteer work at a Summer Camp, I'll be away from mom and dad almost all summer and all I'll have to do is watch over a bunch of kids... God, did that turned out terrible._ ' Chiyo sighed, shoulders sagging. She felt too worried to even try to sleep.

The dark-haired girl shifted, suddenly very aware how warm and soft Renamon's fur was when her shoulder brushed against her partner's arm. Warm and soft... "Renamon?"

"Yes?"

"Can you go lie with Yumoto, Ryuu and the others, you're making me too warm."

"Oh." Renamon got to her feet. "You want me to keep the younger children warm. That's very thoughtful of you." She smiled at her partner and walked over to where Yumoto, Ryuu and Io were sleeping and settled down between them, making sure her fluffy tail covered Yumoto's torso, and her front paws were over Io and Ryuu.

Taken aback Chiyo watched Renamon stretch a bit so that parts of her kept Atsushi warm too. She wasn't used to someone reading her so well, and she wasn't sure just how much she liked it or not.

* * *

The lights of the trolley -both inside and out- had gone off on their own, En didn't question it. Lights going on or off on their own wasn't the strangest thing that happened today. The brown-haired boy yawned loudly and rubbed his eyes.

"No point in offering to stand watch if you'll fall asleep?"

"Think I can't do it huh?" En asked Gomamon, his tone light and teasing.

"Well..."

"I just need to splash some water in my face." En stated, getting to his feet. "I'll be right back."

En slowly made his way over to the lake, nearly slipping over something large and red that was attached to the island. The boy paused and looked at it. The red thing was shaped like a huge leaf, and there seemed to be something black and round sticking out of it. Deciding that it probably was some kind of weird File Island seaweed, En continued on his way to the lake and splashed some water onto his face, instantly feeling more awake.

When the boy looked up he saw Chiyo and Renamon making their way out of the trolley and off the small island. At first En thought she would go for a bathroom break or something, but then he saw the girl just sit down underneath a tree and hug her knees.

"Huh," En shrugged and walked back over to the fire to sit besides Gomamon again. "Must be a teenager thing." The eleven-year-old concluded.

"What's a teenager?"

"A human between ages 13 and 20." En answered Gomamon's question. "They say puberty makes people do strange things and want to eat a lot."

"I wanna eat a lot!"

"Yeah..." En tilted his head and studied his partner. Taking in the large smile and big round eyes. "I don't think you're a teenager Gomamon."

Another two hours passed in relative silence, and it became harder and harder for En to keep his eyes open.

But when the island started to shake, the boy's eyes flew open. "What? Gomamon?!"

"Look!" Gomamon pointed his flipper like arm at the lake.

The water was moving violently, small but strong waves shook the lake and different whirlpools appeared. The water only got wilder when the head of sea-dragon rose from the like and screeched at En and Gomamon.

Still off the island, Chiyo and Renamon gasped when they saw the monster and quickly rose to their feet.

Inside the trolley the others were woken abruptly when the island started to move. "Is it an earthquake?!" Io asked ducking his head when the island moved forward a bit.

"N-no! Another monster appeared." Atsushi replied, not even trying to sound calm as he quickly waved at the door, running after Yumoto and Elecmon who had already run out of the trolley.

Wormmon nodded, moving forward. "It's Seadramon!"

* * *

 **Digimon analyzer:**  
_Seadramon, a fiendish adult level digimon that looks like a sea dragon. For it's finishing move it breathes out barbs of ice, the move is called Ice Arrow._

* * *

The kids now all out of their shelter for the night starred at the giant sea-snake who roared at them. Seadramon screeched and then turned away, starting to swim away- Dragging the island along with it!

"NO!" Chiyo cried when the stone bridge connection the small island to the shore shattered completely. There was no way for her and Renamon to reach the kids now!

"He's going so fast!" Ryuu gasped wobbling on his feet when the island shifted on the water. It felt more like being on a boat now.

Piyomon landed besides her partner. "It makes no sense, I thought Seadramon were supposed to be nice!"

"Maybe this one doesn't know." Yumoto said, taking a step forward. He didn't realize her was standing on that large piece of red 'seaweed'.

Not until the 'seaweed' pushed him off and detached itself from the island, going under with the rest of Seadramon.

En watched the creature go under. "That leaf thing was his tail?!"

Apparently to prove how that 'leaf thing' was indeed his tail, Seadramon smacked the island with his tail, making the island shake even more, and the boys fell to the ground.

Seadramon snarled at them before diving under again.

"He's really pissed!" En exclaimed, gasping when they all felt Seadramon hit the island from underneath them, making the small island drift further and further away from shore.

"Yumoto!" Chiyo screamed when the boys only got further from her reach. Not thinking further, the girl dived into the lake and began swimming towards the island. "Boys! Hold on!"

"Chiyo!" Renamon hesitated, looking at the undoubtedly cold lake water. "No one is allowed to complain about smelling fox fur later." She whispered to herself before diving into the lake herself and swimming after her partner.

The island only stopped drifting further away when it violently crashed against two antenna towers at the center of the lake.

"We finally stopped." Io sighed in relief, he'd actually started feeling queasy from feeling like they were going over water.

Atsushi shook his head. "This is bad! We're trapped now."

Seadramon rose from the lake again, glaring at the children who watched him in fear.

"Come on!" Piyomon shouted, flying forward. " _Magical Fire!"_

_"Sparkling Thunder!"_

Both attacks hit Seadramon in the face, but the water dragon merely closed its' eyes in annoyance.

_"Sticky Net!"_

But Wormmon's webbing couldn't reach Seadramon who was too far away in the lake.

"My turn!" Armadimon declared, stepping forward, only to stop when Io firmly grasped his shell. "Io?"

"All your attacks are psychical." Io reminded the yellow digimon. "You'll fall into the lake and sink!"

"Gomamon!" En cried looking at his partner. "Digivolve again! Ikkakumon can chase this thing of!"

"I've been trying to, but I can't!"

"What?!"

"I don’t know it works!" Gomamon yelled, sounding scared.

"BOYS!"

Recognizing that voice, the five kids ran to the other edge of the island, eyes widening when they saw their camp group leader swimming towards them.

"Oneechan!" Yumoto grinned stepping closer to the edge- just when Seadramon hit the island with its' tail again, causing it to shake, and Yumoto to fall in the lake.

"Yumoto!"

When En nodded, Gomamon hurriedly dived into the water. The seal-like digimon swam underneath the sinking boy, and the swam back up, Yumoto now perched on top of his back.

"Oneechan!" Yumoto cheered smiling at Chiyo.

"Nice going Gomamon!" En complimented his partner. The boys tensed when Seadramon roared again. "Quick come back!"

Chiyo nodded and patted Yumoto's head. "Gomamon take Yumoto to the others. Renamon and I will distract Seadramon."

"Gotcha." Gomamon nodded and started swimming back to the island.

"Hey Seadramon!" Chiyo shouted, swimming away from the island and closer to the sea-dragon. "Over here!"

Now focusing on the girl and her partner, Seadramon turned away from the island.

 _"Diamond Storm!"_ Renamon shot sharp leaves from her upper chest, all of which hit Seadramon's left cheek, leaving a long cut on the monster's face.

Roaring in pain, Seadramon slammed its' tail in the water and then hit Renamon with it, sending the fox digimon flying back, landing roughly on the island.

"Renamon!" Chiyo didn't get the chance to call out for her partner a second time. Something wrapped around her leg, and dragged her under. She didn't even get the chance to scream.

Seadramon dragged Chiyo through the water for several long seconds, wrapping his tail further around the struggling girl, until he finally raised his tail from the water. Chiyo gasped for air, crying out in pain when Seadramon's tail tightened around her.

"Oneechan!" Yumoto yelled, tears filling his eyes, even as En helped him off Gomamon's back. "It's all my fault!"

"You just fell." Atsushi tried to console the small boy, wincing when Chiyo screamed again.

"This is bad!" Wormmon wasn't even aware that he started pacing. His little feet moving on their own. "Seadramon won't let go till he squeezed the breath out of her!"

Gasping in horror Yumoto pulled back from En and Atsushi and turned his focus to Chiyo again.

"Wormmon!" Atsushi scolded sending his partner an annoyed look.

"Chiyo!"

"Oneechan!"

Shaking, Yumoto ran over to Elecmon who was helping Renamon sit up. "Elecmon! Please save Oneechan!"

"I... I can't." Elecmon stammered. "My attack had no effect." The red digimon turned to Renamon who was staring at her partner, blue eyes wide in horror. "Renamon! You're stronger! You can save her!"

Renamon looked at Yumoto and Elecmon and slowly shook her head. "I don't have enough power to-" She stopped talking when Chiyo let out a loud scream.

"Stop!" The girl had tears in her eyes. Choking when Seasdramon's hold tightened around her. "Stop it! IT HURTS!"

"CHIYO!" Renamon jumped to her feet and started running to the edge of the island. As she leaped into the lake, her body started to glow.

_"Renamon digivolve to.... Kyubimon!"_

Her new form wasn't as big and imposing as Ikkakumon, but she was just as strong. Kyubimon walked on four legs, had a lean fury body and was as tall as an adult human man. She had nine tails whose white tips were on fire. Kyubimon also possessed a white mane and had red and white straps around her neck to support a rider.

Kyubimon leaped towards Seadramon's tail and dug her teeth in the larger digimon's skin, making it roar in pain and release Chiyo who fell into the water.  
Shaking all over, Chiyo forced herself to swim back to the island, collapsing on land where she took in big gulps of air.

"Oneechan!" Yumoto and the others ran to her side. "Are you alright?!"

"Don't worry." The girl shuddered, brushing her wet hair away from her eyes and turning to face the fight. "Where's Renamon?"

Kyubimon was swimming around Seadramon, occasionally sending... will 'o wisps of fire, at Seadramon.

"Kyubimon is a magical beast digimon." Armadimon informed them, watching the fight. "It's said that they're a mix of both a holy fox and a dragon, giving it mystical fire power."

Chiyo was quiet watching her partner fight, stunned by the sheer power she was seeing.

Seadramon roared and pulled back. The water-dragon opened it's yellow mouth and released dozens of barbs of ice. _"Ice Arrow!"_

The ice hit Kyubimon and was slowly piling up on her and freezing the water around her, rendering her immobile.

"Kyubimon!"

Not even appearing distressed, Kyubimon's eyes narrowed. _"Dragon Wheel!_ " She cried, her body being enveloped by white fire in the shape of a dragon, melting away the ice on and around her.

Kyubimon flexed her claws and the fire let go of her body and went straight for Seadramon, hitting the monster's chest and pushing it backwards.

 _"Fox Tail Inferno!"_ Kyubimon cried, forming nine blue fireballs at the tips of her tails, which shot towards Seadramon and surrounded the sea dragon, exploding around him in a bright inferno.

The black circle stuck through Seadramon's tail exploded and faded away in many tiny particles, while Seadramon screeched in pain and fell backwards, back into the lake.

"YES!" Chiyo, and the boys cheered in delight when Seadramon didn't get back up.

Kyubimon waited several moments to be sure her opponent wouldn't attack again, a satisfied look on her face. Her body glowed and shrunk back to her previous form, Renamon.

The sun was already rising once Renamon reached the island again.

"Renamon!" Chiyo ran forward and hugged her partner tightly for several seconds. "You were amazing!"

Renamon smiled, briefly returning the hug. "I'm glad it worked out."

"Thank you!" Yumoto beamed at Renamon, he and the others quickly walking over to them. "You saved us!"

"It was nothing."

"No it wasn't." Chiyo shook her head, smiling widely. "It was very... thoughtful." She said, winking playfully at the fox.

"That was something alright." En slurred, rubbing his eyes. "But... How do we get back to land?"

"Leave that to me!" Gomamon happily dived into the lake.

_"Marching fishes!"_

Hundreds of colorful fishes gathered underneath the small island, and started pushing it back to shore.

"Great." Io sat down on the ground. "I don't like boats..."

Ryuu chuckled and patted his friend's shoulder.

* * *

"So tired..."

The kids and their digimon friends had gotten of the island and were all sitting on the ground on shore, most of them laying down on the sand. En was already half asleep, only half listening to what the others were saying.

"Why was it that only Renamon could evolve this time?" Io wondered. The ten-year was hugging his knees, still very sleepy.

Atsushi sat up. "Maybe because it was Chiyo-san who was in danger this time." He suggested glancing over at the older girl, who had her back rested against a tree, Renamon asleep and leaning on Chiyo's right side, and Yumoto asleep on her left side.

En nodded in his sleep. That made sense...

"So they likely evolve when there is great danger near." Io murmered, letting his eyes slid shut. That was nice... safe.

Atsushi chuckled when it was clear Io had fallen asleep too. He looked at the others, from Yumoto and Chiyo, to En and Gomamon, then at Ryuu who lay spread out near Piyomon, one hand petting her feathers.

Atsushi looked at Wormmon. "Looks like it's our turn to keep watch." The boy said, getting in more comfortable position, besides En. "I hope we can find our way home today..."


	4. A self-earned evolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children and their partners explore a mysterious factory where Io makes a new discovery and is reminded of when he didn't know of something that should matter most. Money is life after all.

It was early in the morning, and it looked like it was going to be bright sunny day around the mansion. Which was what made one of the digimon lords decide to go outside with the digimon, assuming the others were still asleep, to do something that wasn't that uncommon for an eleven-year-old to do.

He played.

"Labramon! Catch!" Arima called out, throwing the white frisbee through the air.

Grinning, Labramon barked happily and ran after the frisbee. The red and white, dog-like digimon leaped up and caught it in his mouth. He then stood back up on two legs again and awkwardly threw the frisbee back to his partner. Labramon's wagging tail and erect ears, showed how much fun he was having.

Near the wall of the mansion, two other rookie level digimon watched the set of partners play, doing a poor job at hiding their own feelings.

The fact that Lalamon was sitting on the ground instead of floating in the air gave her sadness away.

Arima caught the frisbee again and was about to throw it, when he noticed Lalamon and Pawnchessmon sitting dejectedly near the wall. "Want to play too?"

Lalamon and Pawnchessmon perked up at the invitation and got up. Pawnchessmon picked his staff back up. "Can we-"

"They better not."

The three digimon and Arima winced when they heard the annoyance in Kinshirou's tone. They slowly turned around and saw Kinshirou and Akoya standing in front of the mansion's doorway. Kinshirou had his arms crossed and was glaring at Arima and the digimon, mostly focused on his own partner.

"Why would you lower yourself like that?"

"I'm sorry Kin-san." Pawnchessmon apologized and quietly marched over to stand at Kinshirou's side. "What Arima was doing just looked like fun!"

"You're above that." Kinshirou calmly reminded his partner who kept his head bowed. He then looked at Arima, that annoyed look still in place. "The same goes for you, you know?"

Arima shrugged half-heartedly. "Me and Labramon were playing, Pawnchessmon and Lalamon wanted to have fun too."

At those words Kinshirou scoffed, and lifted his chin in disgust. "This isn't about fun."

"I thought this was a game."

"A game we are going to win!" Kinshirou declared, with perhaps much more emotion than needed. Besides him Akoya nodded in agreement, although the confused look didn't fade from the young lord's face.

"Games are supposed to be fun." Arima reminded Kinshirou, though his tone was gentle, as if he was honestly trying to remind the other of a minor fact he'd forgotten. To be fair, Arima didn't know that much about games, but he knew you were supposed to have fun while playing. Watching their camp counselor nearly get killed hadn't been fun at all.

Kinshirou stiffly shook his head. "Devimon-sama says this isn't about fun." He stated. "This is about destiny." Devimon was helping them achieve the greatness they should have, so they could be ready to make this world perfect.

"Then..." Arima frowned. "A serious game?"

"You would do well remembering that in the future Arima." Kinshirou stated and turned around, he was about to go back into the mansion when Labramon spoke up.

"That's not fun at all." The dog-digimon said, lowering himself back to stand on four legs. "Maybe you should just relax too and enj-

Kinshirou whirled around and glared at Labramon, rendering him silent. He looked at Arima again. "Do try teaching him some discipline."

Arima looked down at his partner who now had his ears pressed down, frightened by Kinshirou's cold glare. "He didn’t mean harm.."

Fed up with this morning's nonsense Kinshirou shook his head. "That is not how the partner of a lord should behave." And with that said Kinshirou went back into the mansion, Pawnchessmon loyally at his side.

Arima, Labramon, Akoya and Lalamon watched him go, wincing when the door slammed shut behind him. All of them felt the heaviness of Kinshirou's words. They had to win this game or be worthless and... they shouldn't disappoint Devimon.

Looking away from the door Akoya tried to hide his discomfort, but his habit of toying with his hair gave him away.

Seeing it Lalamon floated over to her partner's side. "I'm sorry I helped cause trouble Akoya." The pink seed-digimon said. "I just wanted to play."

Akoya nodded slowly and looked at Arima who was petting Labramon's head. What the older boy and his partner had been doing... hadn't looked that different from what the commoner children at camp had done once. Although it had looked enjoyable and at camp and Akoya imagined what it was like to join them...the commoner game looked too much like what his vulgar classmates at school did.

Only then it wasn't a frisbee or ball that his classmates liked to throw around. More like Akoya's pencil bag, or planner...

So no, Akoya wouldn't take part in such nonsense games. The game they were playing right now was good enough. "Lalamon, that nonsense isn't for you." He repeated words he knew well. "Come on let's go back. Are you coming inside to Arima?"

"I... Yes." Arima smiled at his friend. "Let's have breakfast together."

* * *

After a relatively large breakfast- which may have been a brunch considering they had no idea at what time they woke up- the group continued their hike through the forest.

The large forest with hundreds of trees which were in different shades of blue and green. The forest that had random road signs everywhere and flowers that were almost just as big as Yumoto.

It took four hours for them to reach the edge of the forest, the sun was high and the six kids were already covered in sweat both from the heat and from walking so much.

Deciding that enough was enough, En let himself fall to his knees. "No more..." The eleven-year-old groaned, almost pleading with the others.

"Can we stop now?" Gomamon asked, lying down besides En. The poor water-mammal digimon really missed the lake.

Atsushi sat down on the ground as well. "We've been walking for a while now. Let's take a break."

Nodding Chiyo looked at the trial behind them. "We covered a lot of ground already, so yeah." The girl sat down in the dirt as well. "Let's rest"

Surprisingly, it were the three youngest of the group who were against the idea.

"Really senpai?" Ryuu made a face of distaste. "I want to go home."

Yumoto nodded rapidly. "Yes! Nothing will change if we're just gonna sit."

"We'll just take a short break guys." Atsushi replied, a small frown forming on his face. He shrugged his shoulders and patted Wormmon's head. "We walked a lot today already and we'll continue in a few minutes."

Chiyo looked at the two youngest who struggled to find an argument against Atsushi and then sat down with their partners when they couldn't come up with anything to say. Chiyo had wondered how long it would take for the youngest of their 'team' to stop seeing this as an exciting adventure. The girl had hoped it would take longer than a day and a half.

Apparently Atsushi's simple assurance that they'd continue in a few minutes was enough to ease Yumoto and Ryuu for a while. That didn't take away Chiyo's worry though. Turning around, she spotted the last member of their group. Io had sat down under a tree, being the only one of them smart enough to actually look for a place with shade to sit down in. He was leaning against Armadimon's shell and had grabbed his tablet from his bag.

"I doubt there's wifi here kid."

Surprised at being addressed Io looked at the older girl. "But wouldn't it be good if my tablet finds connections?"

She hadn't thought of that. "Yeah... it means that there would be people here after all..."

Io nodded and looked at his tablet again. "But for that, it needs to be able to go on first." The ten-year-old muttered at the blank screen. "It's not even going on."

"Hmm.." En hummed from where he lay down on the ground. "Maybe it's like the remote for the TV at my place. You need to hit it's sides for it to work."

Planning on ignoring that advice Io tried to restart his tablet. Of course it didn't work again. Becoming aware of the eyes on him, Io looked up and saw all the digimon were looking at him, waiting.

Gomamon was the worst.

"I'm not going to hit a tablet!" Io scoffed and scooted a little closer to Armadimon. Did any of them even know how long it took to save up to be able to buy a tablet?

At Io's shout all five digimon hurriedly looked away, not understanding why their humans were chuckling.

Ryuu was about to comment on his senpai's logic but stopped when he noticed something rising to the sky in the distance. It was dark grey and looked like smoke. Curious Ryuu, took a step forward and then turned around. "Piyomon help me out." Ryuu said as he walked over to a tall tree and started climbing.

Realizing what her partner was trying to do, Piyomon took the hem of Ryuu's shirt in her beak to stabilize him in case he'd fall.

Except for Io, the others and their digimon watched Ryuu climb in mild curiosity. None of them felt the urge to point out that if he wanted something from up there he could have asked Piyomon to get it for him.

"Careful." Chiyo stated getting back to her feet.

Io didn't look up. His gray eyes widened when his tablet's screen suddenly flashed to life, and it's starting screen showed. "It's working..." Only, the tablet screen didn't change and when Io looked at the icon in the corner on the right, the boy's frown deepened. "If there's no battery, how is it on?"

"I found a factory!"

Ryuu's shout made Io look up. Ryuu was standing on a thick branch on the tree and was pointing at something only he and Piyomon could see from up there.

"There's a factory all the way over there! Does me finding it mean I get to name it?" Zaou Ryuu inc. sounded good already. His name should be on lots of things.  
"It doesn't work like that with factories." Atsushi chuckled. He and the others looked at what Ryuu was pointing at, the thick clouds of smoke in the air a couple of kilometer ahead proved Ryuu's words.

Yumoto grinned and grabbed Elecmon, hugging the small digimon tightly. "Let's go explore there now!"

* * *

About an hour later, the group reached the factory. Though on their way towards it the kids had wondered if they even still wanted to go there. The air reeked of sulfur and other gasses, the air near the factory was thick and even outside they could hear the loud noises from the machines working in the factory.

"Changed my mind, it doesn't need to be named after me." Ryuu muttered covering his mouth and nose with his hands.

"I thought you wanted that fame." Io replied in a dry tone, earning an amused scowl from the younger boy.

Atsushi bit on his inner cheek and looked at the huge factory. "Maybe we shouldn't go in." Just listening coming from inside was intimidating. "It might be dangerous."

"Atsushi?"

"Yes En-chan?"

"We faced monsters here," En reminded his friend. "And you're worried about bumping into machines?"

When put like that he definitely sounded silly. "You’re right."

"Besides, there might be humans there." Chiyo added, briefly patting Atsushi's shoulder. "We need to check it out."

"Does that mean we can split up to look around?" Yumoto questioned, looking at Chiyo and grinned. This was just like that American cartoon he had watched a few times, where they'd split up and search for clues.

Chiyo wanted to say no, but looking at the factory again and taking in just how big the place was... The tall girl sighed. "I suppose we'll have to... So we'll go in two groups."

"That doesn't cut the time we'll need to look through this place much." En muttered sullenly.

Give these kids a finger and they'll take your whole hand. "We're going in two groups!" Chiyo repeated, clenching her fists at her sides. "Let's go boys!" She cried, stomping towards the door and yanking it open. "Yumoto, Ryuu and Io, you three are with me, let's go!"

"Right!"

* * *

Stopping at a window Io, Ryuu and Yumoto peered inside the next room where they could see the moving production line. A large square piece of metal was being assembled by mechanical arms. Lights attached to the sides of it, and three antennas were added to the top.

It looked... simple, yet at the same time foreign and the large machines that were putting the device together made the whole process seem overly complicated.

"Oneechan," Yumoto said, stepping away from the window. "What are they making?"

"I don't know." Chiyo shrugged. "We'll need to follow the production line till the end." She said and started walking again. "Remember, we're looking for adults to help us out. This isn't a tour."

* * *

"Think she did it on purpose?" En huffed. He, Atsushi and their partners were on the third floor of the factory and were walking over a thin metal floor, looking around for people. "Sending us to search the part with all these stairs.."

Atsushi smiled. "Chiyo-san doesn't know this place either." He looked around. "Maybe we can find someone on the next floor?"

At that suggestion En groaned loudly.

Grunting En looked up. "ARE THERE HUMANS HERE?! IF SO COME OUT NOW!" And save him from walking another set of stairs.

As expected, there was no answer.

"That was unusual..." Atsushi's smile fell. "If you want you can wait here while I go..."

As tempting as that sounded, En found himself shaking his head. "You don't have..." The pre-teen sighed. "Let's keep looking."

They continued walking through the too brightly lit hallways. Suddenly Gomamon stopped walking.

"What is it buddy?"

"I think I heard someone." Gomamon replied looking around.

Seconds later the buzzing sound repeated itself.

"Maybe it's a humon!" Wormmon exclaimed and ran in the direction the sound had come from.

"Wormmon!" Atsushi gasped and ran after his partner.

Scowling En watched them run off. "And it's _human_." He said, starting to walk after Atsushi and Wormmon. Naturally Gomamon went with him.

"You don't think we'll find humans here?"

En frowned. "I think... that this is a weird place and all that we've met so far are... monsters. Not that humans can't be monsters either, but I mean actual monsters like dinosaurs with tentacle hair and sea dragons."

"So humans can be monsters too?"

"I think so yeah." En nodded gravely. "It all depends on your views, like what is a monster and what makes a person human, and not you have consider what makes a monster a monster-"

"En-chan! Gomamon! Come on!"

"Coming!"

It didn't take long for En and Gomamon to catch up on Atsushi and Wormmon who had slowed down and were following that low buzzing sound they knew had to come from one of the doors further down this corridor.

Wormmon was walking ahead of them and stopped at the opening to one of the room where buzzing was at its' loudest. "Over here!"

The room was filled with lots of metal machines was vibrating and buzzing, and it looked like someone was trapped with their lower body inside the machine.

"Looks painful." En commented as he and the others walked closer. It was a person but.. A metal one. Like a cyborg. "Whatever it is, looks like it got caught in between the gears of this thing."

The 'person' was tall,  at least two and half meter tall and was almost completely covered in shiny metal. The parts of the person's body that weren't covered in metal -which were his mouth and elbows- showed grey skin.

"It's..." Atsushi tilted his head. "A robot?"

"That's not a robot." Wormmon shook his head and carefully poked the person with one of his short legs. "It's Andromon."

"Eh?" En blinked. This machine-like guy didn't look anything like Gomamon or any of the other digimon they had encountered so far. This one looked almost human even. "This is a digimon too?"

Gomamon nodded. "A very good highly evolved one too."

"Highly evolved?" He hadn't considered there being different levels to digi-evolving.. "So who is higher? This guy or Ikkakumon?"

"Andromon." Gomamon answered without a trace of doubt.

"Either way he's not human..." Atsushi failed at hiding his disappointment. Sighing, the blue-haired boy knelt down near Andromon and tried to pull him out of the machine. "Let's help him."

Realizing how painful it must be for the Andromon to be stuck inside the machine like that En nodded and knelt down as well. "Right."

* * *

"It means power room." Io translated the English words on the metal door for Ryuu and the others.

Imagining a room full of generators, cables and wires that had electricity surging through them, which the kids could touch at will, Chiyo her head. "We don't need to go in there." She said stepping back. "Come on boys, let's go-"

She said just as Yumoto reached for the door and opened it.

The room wasn't like what any of them expected. The four kids gasped at what they saw inside the room and what they didn't see inside too.

"It's a battery..." Ryuu said, starring at the giant battery attached to the metal wall attached to another familiar looking thing.

"And a giant motor." Io nodded and stepped into the room and walked closer to the battery. "It's powering this whole place."

"Oh..." Ryuu and Piyomon entered the room as well and started looking at the battery with mild interest too.

"It's huge..." Io breathed gazing at the battery. It was strong too if it was powering this whole factory. Io's mind reeled with the possibilities. If he could somehow show this to the authorities back home... the ten-year-old would have to look up who or which authorities that would even be, but if he could show this to them, they'd pay him for it! He'd make billions of yen thanks to finding this new power source. "I want to research it!"

"We're supposed to look for humans." Chiyo reminded the green-haired boy.

"But..." Io looked at the battery again, shoulders dropping. "It might be important..."

Was this one pouting at her? Chiyo had dealt with this from Yumoto and Ryuu, heck even one of those rich kids had given her that look, but Io now too? "We don't have time for this."

"Me and Armadimon can stay here while you look for humans."

"Right!" Armadimon cheerily nodded his head.

"I don't know Io..."

"Can I stay with Io then?" Ryuu asked raising his hand as if he were in class.

Io frowned. "Why?"

"Because being alone isn't fun." Ryuu answered. There was a silent 'duh' at the end of that sentence.

Yumoto nodded in agreement. "You're right." The eight-year-old looked at Chiyo. "Come on oneechan! Me, you and our partners can continue looking around."

They really weren't leaving her with much choice. "I... Alright." The dark-haired girl sighed. "Promise to stay in this room okay?"

"Yes." Io, Ryuu and their partners nodded in unison. Io held out hand to Chiyo. "Do we have a deal?"

She was going to regret this. Them teaming up against her couldn't mean anything good. Despite her worry, Chiyo shook Io's hand. "Fine."

* * *

"Wormmon! Gomamon help us pull!"

Not that those two weren't already helping En and Atsushi, but En still shouted the words as he felt his fingers start to slip from Andromon's arms. "Pul-" The boy gasped when he lost his grip and staggered backwards across the metal floor.

His fall came to a halt when his back collided against a large metal lever that stuck out from the ground. En accidentally pulled the whole lever backwards with him when he tried to get up, which made the gears of the machine Andromon was stuck in start moving.

With the gears moving again it was much easier for Atsushi, Wormmon and Gomamon to pull Andromon out the machine.

"We did it!" Atsushi sighed in relief. He looked at the digimon in concern when it showed no sign of waking up. "Is he hurt?" Atsushi asked studying the digimon.

One of Andromon's legs wasn't covered in metal and the skin look irritated but not too hurt for the digimon to still be unconscious.

Getting up, En walked back to the others "This is like Io's tablet all over again."

"Oh!" Remembering what En said about getting machines to work, Gomamon lifted his arm and hit Andromon on the head.

The sound of claws striking metal echoed through the room was followed by En, Atsushi and Wormmon's shocked silence.

"Gomamon..." En swallowed. "You didn't..."

"But you said that hitting machines helps."

Atsushi shook his head and bent over Andoromon to inspect the large digimon's head. "First of you shouldn't hit people." He lectured. "Secondly, you don't hit machines. You may have damaged something on the insid-" The words got caught in Atsushi's throat when Andromon's eyes flashed open and the digimon suddenly grabbed Atsushi's ankle as it got up. Holding a flailing eleven-year-old upside down a meter of the ground.

"W-hat's happening!" Atsushi cried.

"Intruder secured." Andromon said in his robotic voice.

* * *

 **Digimon Analyzer.**  
_Andromon, a cyborg-like digimon whose entire body is made out of machinery. It is said to be a very strong digimon who even managed to evolve to perfect level_

* * *

"Let him go!" En ordered.

"Atsushi!" Wormmon stepped back and released his attack. " _Sticky net!_ " Webbing shot out of Wormmon's mouth and got attached to the back of Andromon's head. Wormmon pulled back, but he was hardly strong enough to push Andromon over.

It was a mere annoyance for the cyborg. Glowing eyes narrowed and Andromon threw Atsushi towards the others.  
Slowly Andromon started walking towards them.

"I thought you said he was nice!" En cried, hurriedly helping Atsushi back to his feet.

"He is!" Gomamon insisted.

En gestured at the approaching cyborg. "Does that look nice to you?!"

Atsushi looked around nervously, his blue eyes widened when he saw the air vent hanging over Andromon's head. "Wormmon, up there."

Understanding what his partner meant, Wormmon nodded. " _Sticky net!"_ He latched the webbing to the air vent and pulled as hard as he could.

Just in time, the air vent came loose from the ceiling and hit Andromon right on the head, knocking the robot-like digimon over.

"That was brilliant!" En praised, staring at his friend with wide eyes.

"Thanks." Blushing, Atsushi rubbed the back of his head. "Uhm... Now we run."

Because Andromon was already getting up, and the same trick wouldn't work twice.

* * *

Io, Ryuu and their partners were still in the power room, examining the huge battery. Io was walking around the thing, fingers brushing over the cool metal.

"Think there's some kind of USB-port?" Ryuu asked as he took his phone from his pocket. His eyes widened when he saw that it was somehow charging already.  
"No, I'm just looking if there's a brand name on it or-" Io paused when his hand landed on a doorknob. "There is an opening."

"Really?" Ryuu looked away from his phone.

Nodding Io opened the door and walked into the room, followed by the others. The room inside the battery was brightly lit, and the round walls had symbols written on them. Ones and zeros and dozens of pictographs which Io and Ryuu hadn't ever seen before.

Armadimon looked at the walls and tilted his head. "It's a painting." He guessed.

Io shook his head and walked closer to the walls. "It's a computer program." The boy reached for one of the zeros on the wall and brushed his finger over it, accidentally wiping part of the ink away.

Right after he did that, the lights in the factory went out.

* * *

En, Atsushi, Gomamon and Wormmon were running through a long corridor when the lights suddenly went out.

"What the-"

"A short circuit?" Atsushi wondered, squinting to see in the dark.

The small group tensed when they heard the sound of footsteps approaching. In the distance they could see Andromon's glowing red eyes, that was all they could see of their enemy.

"What do we do?!"

"It's dark." En answered. "Maybe he can't see us either. Let's be really quiet."

Not knowing any other option, Atsushi and the digimon nodded.

Of course none of them could have known that Andromon's vision lenses could be switched to night vision. Andromon's eyes zoomed in on the kids and he turned his right arm into a drill. _"Spiral Sword!"_ The drill created a blue colored spark which he sent flying towards the intruders.

En saw the light coming and quickly pushed Atsushi to the ground, the electricity bolt passed over their heads and hit the wall at the end corridor.

* * *

"You took away the wrong part." Ryuu said holding his phone near the pictogram on the wall which Io had damaged, so they could see it.

"This thing truly operates everything in here, just not in the way that we thought it did." Io replied. The boy frowned when he suddenly realized something. "How is your phone back on? I thought the battery died."

"It started working again once we entered this place."

Frowning Io opened his laptop bag, grabbed his tablet and turned it on. Surprisingly it actually went on just like it had done all the times before they'd ended up on this crazy island, the icon in right corner even showed that the battery was fully charged again. "Strange..."

"Are you going to fix the light now?"

"Yes." Io nodded and put his bag on the floor so he could put his tablet down on it. He then went back to the wall so he could look at the pictogram again and stare.

"Maybe if you add the line you removed, the lights will go back on again?" Armadimon suggested.

"You think so?" Io glanced over his shoulder to look at his partner.

"It's worth a shot."

When Armadimon and Ryuu nodded, Io concluded that they were right. He grabbed a black marker from his laptop bag and used it to redo the line on the wall he had removed.

* * *

"It went back on." Yumoto said when the lights turned back on in the factory. He, Chiyo and their partners had followed the production like and were looking through a another window. The machines were working again.

Mechanical arms were adding a smaller computer screens to the now much more advanced looking machines.

"I wonder what those machines are for." Renamon said, one paw pressed against the window.

"It has to be something really amazing!" Yumoto decided grinning widely. "Like a machine that reverses time or something that makes adults and children switches bodies." Yumoto nodded at his own options. He couldn't wait to see what the machines did, it had to be something really exciting.

Chiyo chuckled and shook her head. "Let's keep walking, we'll find out when we reach the end of the production line."

They continued to walk past several more rooms, and when they stopped to look through the next window, the kids gasped.

"What is this?!" Chiyo starred at what the mechanical arms were doing to the machines they had just made. Sparks flew around the work room and they undid the screws and disassembled the pieces of metal from each other.

* * *

"This is really mysterious."

Io was sitting on the floor inside the battery and was looking at his tablet. A few feet away Ryuu was sitting on the floor as well, cheerily showing Piyomon a game on his pink xperia phone.

"What do you mean?" Armadimon asked tilting his head.

"Batteries create electricity through a chemical solution combined with metal." Io explained, looking up from his tablet. "But it's different in here, it's these markings on the wall that's powering this place."

It didn't make much sense to small yellow digimon but Armadimon nodded anyway. "So what will you do now?"

Falling quiet, Io looked at his tablet screen again. "I... will figure out what this means." The green haired boy decided. "It will help me understand this place better."

"How?"

"Ryuu," Io looked at the younger boy. "You can take pictures with your phone right?"

"Of course." Ryuu smiled. "Want to take a selfie?"

"Maybe later. Can you take photo's of the walls?"

Frowning Ryuu nodded. "Sure."

* * *

By now Atsushi, En and their partners had ran through the entire third floor of the factory. The small group was running over a metal bridge with a far too thin railing for comfort.

Despite his odd robotic pace, Andromon was only a few feet behind the kids.

"We shouldn't have helped him!" En panted, already exhausted.

"We couldn't have left him s-stuck in that thing." Atsushi replied, heart racing. "Wormmon said this guy is supposed to be nice!"

"He is!" Wormmon insisted. "He wouldn't be attacking if Gomamon hadn't hit him!"

"So this is my fault?!" The white, seal digimon argued, having trouble keeping up with the rest.

"Yes!"

"No fighting!" Atsushi gasped out. "Can't you two see we're a little busy right now?!"

Andromon was gaining upon them. He turned his arm into a drill again and spun it around to create another sphere of light, which he threw at the intruders. _"Spiral_ _Sword_!"

The children screamed, this sphere was much bigger than the previous one. Diving to the ground wouldn't save them this time. There was only one way out.

They jumped of the metal bridge, and clung tightly to the railing.

Andromon's attack flew past them, but now they were all hanging from the railing of a bridge and Andromon was already moving closer towards them.

"En-chan!" Atsushi whimpered, feeling his hands start to slip. "What do we do?"

En swallowed nervously, feeling his own grip on the railing start to slip. "Hold on!"

* * *

"So what are you doing now?" Ryuu asked, watching as Io opened the uploaded pictures of the walls to his tablet.

"I'm running all those signs through my universal app." Io explained. "They might mean something in another language. Finding information on it would be easier if we had wifi here though."

"Uh huh," Ryuu nodded, a frown creating wrinkles on the nine-year-old's forehead. "And why do you have an app to translate stuff?"

"It helps me make understand some transactions."

"Transactions?" Armadimon tilted his head at the unfamiliar word.

"It's like trading." Ryuu used the same explanation Io had used when telling him what he always did on his tablet. "Io buys stuff and trades it for more money." Ryuu looked at his friend. "Right?"

"Something like that yes." Io nodded.

Piyomon blinked. "Money? What's that?"

Io nearly dropped his tablet. "You don't have money here?"

Armadimon shook his head. "Not on file island.... I think."

"But... How do you pay for things?"

"Io," Ryuu patted his friend's shoulder. He didn't know why, but Io had gone pale at what Armadimon and Piyomon just revealed. "They don't even have people here." He sat down besides his friend. "What does it matter?"

"What does it matter?!" Io repeated, voice going an octave higher. "It's important!"

Armadimon blinked. "Why?"

"Why..." Io swallowed thickly, thinking back to a time when he didn't realize just how important money could be.

 

 

> _"He's going to get better, right?" Seven-year-old Io asked looking up at his mother who was unable to look away from her husband's pale, sweat covered face. "Mommy?"_
> 
> _They were in a small hospital room, Naruko Daichi lay unmoving in his hospital bed. Thankfully the man was just asleep.The doctors had given him strong antibiotics for now. Io didn't even know the number the doctor had used when he told his mother the price of the medicine._
> 
> _"Mom..." Io murmured when his mother didn't answer him._
> 
> _The long-haired woman slowly nodded her head. "Of course he's going to be alright." Haruka forced herself to smile. "Daddy is coming back home soon." There was no way she'd be able to afford the stay in the hospital_ and _the medicine. "It's going to be alright..."_
> 
>  

"Io? Io!"

"W-what?" Io blinked, Armadimon's voice pulling him away from memories of long ago.

"You were totally spacing out." Ryuu complained. "Look!" The pink-haired boy pointed at Io's tablet. "Something's happening."

Io looked at the screen and his grey eyes widened in surprise. He expected the translation to be done. What he didn't expect was to see the markings Io had copied to the file to be moving around on the screen. "It's moving on it's own!"

The code on the screen moved around and then morphed, For a second Io's tablet screen went white, then the codes appeared again and just as quickly disappeared to make room for the 3D map that opened.

"That's it." Ryuu breathed.

Io nodded recognizing the map for what it was. It was of a small island which had a large mountain on it's center. "File island... The digimon are right. We're really on their island and-"

Io stopped talking when suddenly his digivice which was still strapped to his laptop bag lit up and made beeping sounds. "What now?" Scowling Io grabbed his digivice and looked at it. Three yellow bars were constantly appearing and fading on the screen, like it was charging. And the words 'digisoul rising' showed at the top of the screen.

"Digisoul?" Io looked at Ryuu and Piyomon. "What's that?"

"Beats me." Piyomon shrugged.

"Hot!"

Surprised, they turned to look at Armadimon who was desperately trying to curl up.

"Armadimon!" Io gasped when he saw his partner's shell start to glow.

"It hurts!" Armadimon cried. "So much energy!"

"What's happening?!"

"I don't know!"

Io reached for his partner, but stopped and looked at his beeping digivice. By now the amount of appearing lines had doubled, there was only room for one more. It had started because when the map appeared. But without it they wouldn't learn more about this place.

"I can't take much more of this!" Armadimon cried out in pain. "Help!"

Io quickly turned his tablet of, almost immediately after Io's digivice stopped glowing and Armadimon stopped glowing.

"Are you okay now?" Io asked walking over to his partner and petting his shell.

"Uh huh." Armadimon nodded, leaning into Io's touch. "Thanks."

* * *

Still clinging to the railing, En frantically looked around for a way out of this situation. His eyes narrowed when he saw a halyard several feet below. The seat of it was big and if he swung just right... If he didn't he'd be dead but they were all goners if they didn't defeat Andromon, so En decided to test his luck.

Pushing back against the railing, En jumped down and landed on the seat of the halyard. "Alright." En grabbed the largest of the three levers in both hands and pulled. "Good thing I'm good at video games..."

Although video games were definitely easier than moving this large contraption. It was more luck than skill, that En got the hook attached underneath Andromon's metal shoulder blade. Pulling the lever backwards, En let the hook lift upwards, dragging Andromon upwards as well.

"That was awesome!" Gomamon cheered, grinning down at his partner.

En grinned back. "Wormmon, can you help the others down?" They had to find Chiyo and the rest so they could get out of this crazy place.

* * *

Chiyo, Yumoto, Renamon and Elecmon had reached the end of the production line and reached an open area in the factory where machine parts were stored.  
"From what I can tell this factory has an assembly of machines that builds other machines and then takes them apart again." Chiyo summed up while rubbing her chin. "And then the cycle continues."

Yumoto nodded. "So what are they making?"

"Nothing."

Elecmon and Yumoto frowned.

"This place isn't making anything at all." Chiyo clarified. "The machines just go on without anymore operating them..."

"There you are!"

Yumoto and Chiyo turned around and saw Io, Ryuu and their partners run to them.

"We discovered something." Io said once they joined the rest of the group. "This place is much more mysterious than we thought."

"What is it?" Chiyo asked, raising an eyebrow at how serious Io sounded.

"This place! It's run by a large computer program." Io answered, behind him Ryuu, Armadimon and Piyomon nodded their heads. "It's code and data- Or it would be data at home, but here it became real power."

"Which is why my phone and Io's tablet haven't been working right." Ryuu added. "This place is way weirder than-"

"Guys! Hey!" En, Atsushi and their partners ran out of the large door. "Look out!"

Yumoto stepped forward. "Look out for what?"

As if on cue Andromon's drill-turned arm created a hole in the ground in front of Yumoto, and the robot-like digimon jumped through it.

Glowing red eyes narrowed in anger. "More intruders." Andromon stated in his mechanic voice when he saw Yumoto and the others. Adromon's vision lenses zoomed in on Yumoto, Chiyo, Io and Ryuu. "Intruders locked." His breastplate opened and his body heated up, ready to attack. " _Gatling Missiles!"_ Two small missiles shot out of the cyborg's chest and flew straight towards the children.

Screaming in fear the children ran out of the way, all of them except for Yumoto who was starring at the fast approaching missiles.

"Yumoto!" Chiyo shrieked. "Move!"

"Leave this to me!" Renamon cried leaping forward. Her body started to glow. Io didn't miss the fact that Chiyo's digivice which was strapped to her bag, was glowing as well.

_"Renamon digivolve to Kyubimon!"_

Kyubimon landed in front of Yumoto and shot two balls of fire at the missiles it made one of them evaporate, but the other only got hit lightly enough to be blown out of course. It went flying towards En, Atsushi, Gomamon and Wormmon.

"Gomamon!"

"On it!" Gomamon nodded and felt his energy change.

_"Gomamon digivolve to Ikkakumon!"_

Ikkakumon lowered his head so the missile hit his horn and fell apart. He and Kyubimon then both charged at Andromon who easily lifted the two much large digimon and pushed them of the platform, down to the next and jumped after them.

"No! Kybubimon!"

"Ikakkumon!"

The kids and the digimon unable to digivolve ran to the edge of the platform they were on to watch the fight.

_"Spiral sword!"_

Andromon's attack hit Kybubimon's face and made her fall to the ground.

Planting his feet firmly on the ground, Ikkakumon reeled back. _"Harpoon Torpedo!"_ The horn on his forehead shot forward, aimed straight for Andromon's neck.

No one expected the cyborg to simply reach forward and grab the torpedo. "Intruders' power is low." Andromon stated and threw the torpedo back at Ikkakumon

  
Atsushi winced when he saw his friend's partner be hurt like that. "They were right." The blue-haired boy stated. "He really is a level higher than Ikkakumon."

"Speed... strength." En shook his head, not wanting to believe that his friend really didn't stand a chance.

Kyubimon ran towards Andromon and tried to bite his arm, she groaned when cold, mechanic hands grabbed her jaw and lifted her head. The poor fox was helpless when Andromon threw her at Ikkakumon like she was merely a pillow.

"Hang on Kyubimon!" Chiyo called out to her partner.

"Io!" Armadimon nudged Io's leg with his head. "Open the app stuff again."

Io turned around and looked at his partner in surprise. "It hurt you."

"It got your digivice glowing like Chiyo's did."

Patting his laptop bag Io frowned deeply. "You saw it too, so... digivolving has to do with this digisoul thing."

"I think so too." Armadimon smiled. "Ready to try?"

It could be dangerous, he could hurt Armadimon again or do even worse but... Kybubimon and Ikkakumon weren't winning... so this was a risk he had to take. Io nodded. "Ready." The ten-year old whispered and grabbed his tablet.

Io opened the saved page with the codes and ran them through his translator app. The codes started morphing and the map opened again, but Io didn't pay attention to it this time. Instead he looked at his digivice and at Armadimon both started to glow. "...Digisoul charge."

Armadimon felt the power surge through him, only this time it didn't hurt. It felt nice and... empowering.

_"Armadimon digivolve to Ankylomon!"_

Armadimon's new form was big. Bigger than both Kybubimon and Ikkakumon. Ankylomon was a yellow ankylosaurus whose whole body was covered in hardened skin which had hard protuberances coming out all over. He also had an iron sphere at the tip of his tail.

"You did it!" Io cheered, grey eyes wide in amazement.

"He's so big..." Ryuu whispered, staring at the large digimon. "We can win now!"

Nodding Ankylomon leaped of the platform, planning on landing on Andromon's head. Unfortunately the cyborg saw it coming and jumped out of the way.

 _"Armor stampede!"_ Ankylomon shouted and charged forward, headbutting Andromon's chest.

Grunting Andromon put his hands on the side of Ankylomon's large head and pushed back, still remaining upright despite the massive weight pressed against him.

"How is he so strong?!" Ryuu cried, gesturing at Andromon.

Yumoto huffed. "Doesn't he have an off switch?"

Off switch? Io blinked and looked at Andromon. Their enemy wouldn't have an off switch, but everyone had a weak spot somewhere. Looking at Andromon more closely, it only took seconds for Io to spot it. There were no metal parts protecting Andromon's right leg.

"Ankylomon!" Io cried stepping closer to the edge of the platform. "His leg!"

Ankylomon looked at Andromon's leg and saw what Io meant. He could do this.

 _"Gatling missiles!"_ Andromon fired another set of missiles at Ankylomon who didn't move out of the way, he only ducked his head letting the attack hit him, it hurt but his armor protected him from most of the blows.

His turn. _"Tail hammer!"_ Ankylomon cried slamming his tail against Andromon's right leg.

The attack didn't push Andromon backwards, but it did push something **_out_ ** of his leg.

A black gear shot out of Andromon's leg and floated in the air for several seconds before bursting apart into dozens of tiny particles which faded away.

"Another one?" Yumoto murmured, thinking to the gear he'd seen before, stuck inside Seadramon's tail.

Gasping, Andromon fell to his knees. "The evil..." His red eyes became white again and the digimon sighed in relief. "The evil has subsided."

* * *

Andromon wasn't a threat anymore. Once the black gear was gone he gained control over himself again and called out to the chosen children so he could explain himself. "It all started because I was trying to remove a black gear that had appeared inside one of the machines."

"A black gear..." Atsushi chewed on his lower lip. "That's what those lords are using, right?." He murmured looking at Wormmon and thinking back to what their partners told them on their first day here. About three digimon lords who took away digimon's free will.

Andromon nodded, for the first time his face showed real emotion. Regret. "I am grateful that you rescued me, but I have done unspeakable things to you." The cyborg closed his eyes in shame.

He didn't open his eyes again until he felt someone touch his leg. Surprised Andromon opened his eyes and looked down. His eye lenses opened wider when he saw Yumoto was hugging his leg.

"It's okay." Yumoto assured, smiling brightly at their new friend. "It was just a malfunction, you couldn't control yourself." Yumoto said, nuzzling his cheek against the cold metal of Andromon's thigh.

"He's right." Io nodded fully agreeing with the younger boy, of course he wasn't going around hugging their former enemies, but Andromon shouldn't feel bad for actions out of control. "It's those lords who need to pay for your crimes."

Andromon smiled down at Yumoto. "Thank you. Friends." He put his metal hand on Yumoto's head and earned himself another bright smile from Yumoto. "Please feel free to stay here for the night, there is no organic food in my factory but there is edible powder for you."

"Powder?" Ryuu stuck out his tongue at the thought of eating some kind of powder.

"Thank you Andromon." Chiyo felt the urge to bow at the larger digimon for saving them from having to spent the night outside.

"I'll eat it." Armadimon informed them all. "Digivolving sure makes you hungry."

"Does it?" Io knelt down and patted Armadimon's head. "You were great today." He told him.

"Thanks!" Armadimon grinned. "And I think you had a lot of that digisoul thing to help too."

En was already sitting down on the floor, Gomamon asleep on his lap, the unfamiliar word made En lift his head and look at Io. "Digisoul?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh!" Io nodded. "I have much to explain. Senpai."

Yumoto stepped back from Andromon. "Can you do it over dinner?"

"You want to eat powder?" Atsushi asked grimacing at the thought.

"Yes!"


	5. Don't Play With Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three young lords discover that it perhaps wasn't the best idea to trust a fallen angel. What is it that makes Devimon be harder on Akoya? Meanwhile Ryuu gets a new admirer.

A lot had changed since the chosen children arrived. The game became less fun and they had to work more. At the same time a lot stayed the same too. Frowning deeply, Akoya looked at the many monitors hanging from the wall.

Most of them showed the chosen children in the factory talking about their travel plan with Andromon. Others monitors showed various places on the continent where enslaved digimon were working, making monuments or fighting each other because their minds weren't strong enough to main rational thanks to the effect of the Black Gears.

"So much fighting..." It was sad, mean and ugly.

Unbeknownst to the long-haired boy, behind him Devimon was looking at him intently.

"It is necessary Akoya." Kinshirou reminded his younger friend, but his tone was gentle for once. "We have to make this world perfect."

Akoya nodded, he still understood their cause. "Well," The ten-year-old huffed and crossed his arms. "I can't wait for all this fighting to stop!"

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY SUCH THINGS!"

Suddenly Devimon emerged from the darkness and lunged for Akoya who instantly paled when the large, devil-like digimon appeared so close. Dark red eyes glaring at him.

Kinshirou and Arima stiffened too. Sure Devimon had raised his voice at them a handful of times before, but never had he shouted at just one of them.

"Don't say idiotic things like that!" Devimon shouted, inches away from Akoya's face. The fallen angel did his best to focus on the pink-haired boy he was glaring at- to not think of another child who liked the color pink as well. She should have survived... "Please say you're not foolish enough to believe the fighting will eventually stop!"

"I... Uhm..." Akoya whimpered and stepped back from the large digimon, tears filling his blue eyes.

"Stop it! Lalamon cried and quickly floated over to be between Akoya and Devimon. She would have attacked the stronger digimon, if her chosen child hadn't hurriedly plucked her from the air and hugged her tightly.

"No..." Akoya whimpered and hugged Lalamon tightly. She didn't stand a chance against Devimon, and- he felt best to hold her like this now.

Arima clenched his fist. He wouldn't let Devimon hurt his friends, but... he didn't know how to stop the monster from doing just that.

"Devimon-sama." Kinshirou's voice was surprisingly steady. "That's enough."

Devimon turned to Kinshirou and Arima, two kids so different from the original chosen children. The fallen angel digimon blinked and then reformed his glare. "We must keep fighting." He said, but he was no longer just talking to Akoya this time. "To keep the balance or all will be lost again." And with that said, Devimon whirled around and left the room.

Silence lingered for several long seconds, it was broken by Labramon resting his head against Arima's leg. "That was scary."

"Yeah." Arima didn't know what to say so he just nodded and patted his partner's head.

"Akoya?" Kinshirou looked at the younger boy in worry. "It is alright, Devimon-sama wouldn't hurt you... He's helping us." Though even Kinshirou was shaken up from that outburst.

Akoya nodded stiffly, still clinging to Lalamon for comfort. He rapidly blinked away the stinging sensation from his eyes. He didn't want to cry in front of his friends, but it was hard. He hadn't expect to be bullies here too...

"It's alright." Lalamon snuggled closer to her partner, offering what little comfort she could give. "I wouldn't have let him hurt you."

Akoya smiled tearfully at that and hugged her tighter.

"Do you want to lead our attack against the others today?" Kinshirou offered hoping that would make Akoya feel better.

After considering the offer, Akoya nodded quietly. "Can... Can we sent those vile monsters after them today?" He asked still not letting go of Lalamon.

"Sure." Arima nodded and walked over to his friends. He instantly knew which digimon Akoya was talking about. Those weren't under their control, but they could nudge the hoard of simple creatures in the right direction. "Let's start the new plan."

* * *

Andromon had given them the directions to get out of the maze-like factory. Unfortunately that way out was through the sewer system. They'd been walking through the sewers for almost two hours now, it was hot, clammy and smelly, but thankfully the kids had come up with a way to keep themselves distracted.

It was a game of sort. Each of them would assign each other a letter and they'd sing a song of which the title started with that letter.

They were currently singing a song a song that began with the letter E when suddenly Ryuu froze and let out a loud gasp.

All of them looked at the pink-haired boy in surprise.

"Are you alright?" Io asked in mild-concern.

"I... Some water fell on me." Ryuu said squeezing the now wet part of his shirt.

En frowned. "So?"

"I want to do laundry." Ryuu said, looking down. He knew the others must be confused so he continued. "On warm Sundays I have to help my grandma hang out the laundry, and we usually sing along with songs from the radio."

"Oh..." Chiyo's shoulders sank when she saw the sad look on the nine-year-old's face.

"Me too." Yumoto said after a while. He sat down on the ground and rested his back against the damp wall. "I want to take a nice hot bath at Kuratama."

"Your family own a bath house right?" Atsushi asked, looking down at Yumoto.

Yumoto nodded and tears filled his eyes. "It's just me and An-chan now..." The eight-year-old murmured hugging his knees.

"What do you mean? What about your mom and-"

"I miss school." Chiyo spoke before En could finish his question. "I miss meeting up with my friends."

Atsushi nodded understanding where his friends were coming from. "Puzzles." He sighed. "I could do them for hours."

"Really?" En raised an eyebrow. "It's something like that that you miss?"

The others looked at him in surprise. "Isn't there something from home you miss En-chan-senpai?" Yumoto asked, tilting his head.

"My bed." En shrugged, then his eyes widened and he shook his head. "No, the hammock my dad hung up last month. It's the best during warm days."

"That's nice..." Io nodded, that was exactly something he expected from the older boy. "One thing from home I miss is internet. I need to check FX or..." Io trailed of and that signaled the start of a long heavy silence.

The digimon watched their partners in worry.

"They're truly from another world." Renamon observed.

Armadimon nodded. "They just want to go back home..."

"Yeah," Elecmon agreed. "We should-" He stopped talking when his strong ears picked up on a sound coming from the distance. "Those voices."

Squealing and wet splashing sounds. It didn't take long for the others to hear it too.

"Numemon." Wormmon stated, tensing up.

"Numemon?" Atsushi repeated.

"They're crude digimon who like slimy and stinking places." Gomamon answered, small body tense.

"Are they strong?" Io asked, reaching for his digivice. They hadn't eaten much that morning so there was a chance that their partners wouldn't have the energy to evolve.

Armadimon shook his head. "Weak."

"They're weak but they're also dirty." Piyomon explained, nervously stepping backwards, closer to Ryuu.

"Dirty?"

"They're known as the most hated digimon in the digital world." Elecmon added, his tails erect.

"Well that's not nice." Yumoto huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Maybe they wouldn't do whatever makes them hated if you didn't call them hated."

Finally the Numemon emerged from the darkness of the tunnel behind them. At least ten, green blob-like creatures, of a foot tall came running towards them.

"It's really Numemon!" Renamon gasped. "Run!"

Without thinking, the group listened to the fox-digimon's words and started running down the sewer tunnel.

"I don't get it!" En cried, slowing down. "If they're weak then why do we have to run away?!"

"You'll find out!" Gomamon answered, sounding desperate to get away from the small hoard of Numemon.

And he was right.

The Numemon all reached for something from behind them. Pink and brown sludges that looked and smelled like-

* * *

 **Digimon analyzer:**  
_Numemon, mollusk-type digimon who like dark and slimy places. They attack with... they attack with their own poop._

* * *

"What is this?!" Ryuu shrieked, covering his hair with his hands and running faster. "How- Why-" The nine-year-old couldn't fathom why such gross creatures would have such a disgusting attack, or why they were attacking them. One turd hit the wall near him and Ryuu forget all about his questions and ran faster.

Yumoto was at the head of the group, running the fastest. He slowed down when he saw a side opening in the tunnels, one that led to a way out. "Everyone! This way!"

They ran into the next tunnel, the Numemon hot on their heels. They finally reached the opening of the tunnel. Finally a way out of the sewers.

En was the last out of the tunnel, he nervously looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened when he saw the Numemon all freeze inches from the tunnel exit.

The green, slimy monsters screamed and backed away from the exit.

"Huh?" En looked at Gomamon who sighed in relief.

"Numemon are afraid of sunlight." Gomamon explained.

"A-ah..." En breathed and sank down to the ground.

* * *

After a short break to catch their breaths, the kids continued walking, searching for a way home. It was so nice to finally be out of those dark sewer tunnels. The change of scenery was very welcome.

They walked over fields and hills of dried grass and past a small pond. It would all have been very relaxing if it wasn't so hot.

However it didn't take long till there was another change of scenery. On they didn't expect. There, on the field below the hill they were standing on stood twenty- no fifty vending machines, all in various colors and from various brands.

"There's so many of them." Chiyo observed.

"But it's at such a convenient timing too." En added, tilting his head. Too bad none of them were plugged in or even seemed to have cables that needed to be plugged in.

Ryuu stared at the vending machines. It was so hot and if just one of them worked... "I'm thirsty!" The nine-year-old exclaimed and ran down the hill.

"Ryuu! Wait!" Piyomon cried flying after her partner.

"Ryuu..." Io sighed, choosing to not run after his new friend. "They won't work anyway."

Chiyo shrugged. "He'll find out."

Ryuu didn't care what his friends were saying. He grinned while walking through the field of vending machines. "Ah, this one." He said stopping in front a salmon colored vending machine. "I want cherry cola, Piyomon you want something too?"

"No." Piyomon replied, putting he wings on her hips.

"You don't have to sound mad about it." Ryuu rolled his eyes and grabbed some coins from his pocket. He inserted them into the machine and was about to press the button when suddenly the front of the vending machine came off and fell forward.

Ryuu and Piyomon scrambled out of the way to avoid being hit by the piece of metal.

Inside the hollow, other half of the empty machine stood a single Numemon who grinned when he saw Ryuu. "Pinky!" He cheered, raising his slimy, chubby arms. "Wanna date me?!"

Ryuu stared at the short monster in confusion.

"He likes pink." Piyomon realized. Mortified, she tried to cover up her own feathers from the Numemon. "He's hitting on you." She said looking at Ryuu. "What are you gonna do?"

Ryuu's face twisted into a grimace. "Reject him of course!" The nine-year-old shouted, stomping his foot down. "I don't date ugly, stinking monsters!"

"Don't make him mad." Piyomon whispered to her partner.

"It's fine!" Ryuu huffed and pointed upwards. "The sunlight will scare..." The boy trailed of when he realized it had become quite cloudy by now. "Oh..."

"Ugly and stinking?!" Numemon screeched and reached for something from his back. "Now I'm really pissed!" He grabbed a sludge and threw it at Ryuu and Piyomon who took several steps away just in time.

Crying out, the boy and bird hurriedly ran away from the vending machines.

"I'm not done yet!" The Numemon called out and jumped out of his vending machines. All forty-nine other vending machines burst open to reveal a Numemon in each one of them. All which started chasing Ryuu and Piyomon.

"Guys!"

En, Atsushi and the others had stopped paying attention to what was happening on the field. That is, until Ryuu yelled for them. They all tensed up when they saw the small army of Numemon chasing Ryuu and Piyomon.

"S-so many!" Chiyo whispered, blue eyes wide.

"How?!" Io demanded shaking his head at the many monsters approaching them.

"No time to explain!" Ryuu yelled running past his friends. "Gotta go fast!"

They didn't need to be told twice. The group of kids quickly started running again, the Numemon running after them and all of them throwing sludges and turds at them.

"There's too many!" Atsushi yelled, covering his head with his arms. He shuddered when a pink turn flew just past his head.

"We have to split up!" Yumoto decided, grabbing Elecmon so at least his partner wouldn't get hit.

For once Chiyo could agree to that. "We'll meet back at the end of the forest boys! Run!"

And run they did. Each kid and their partner ran into a different direction. At least five Numemon following each pair.

Except for Ryuu and Piyomon. They had the remaining twenty following them

"You gotta be kidding me!" Ryuu wailed, already fed up with the situation. You offend one monster and suddenly they all want to attack you. He and Piyomon ran further into the forest and hid behind a thick oak tree. The Numemon were undeterred and kept looking for the pink-haired boy.

"Oh pinky! Come out!"

Ryuu and Piyomon were tense behind the tree. There were so many Numemon... And Piyomon was still unable to evolve.

That didn't mean she'd let her partner be attacked by those slimy things. "I can beat them." Piyomon decided and flew out from behind the tree. "Magical fi-"

She didn't need to release her attack.

All Numemon screamed in terror and ran away from the bird-digimon.

"Piyomon!" Ryuu cheered running to his partner and patting her feathery shoulders. "You scared them all away!"

Piyomon landed on the ground and looked in the direction of the retreating Numemon. "Did I?" She wondered, tilting her head. "I didn't attack yet..."

"Maybe they were just intimidated by how cool you looked?" Ryuu offered with a small shrug.

Suddenly the was a loud thud behind them and for a few seconds the ground shook.

Gasping Piyomon flew up and Ryuu run several feet ahead before turning around. His brown eyes grew the size of saucers when he saw what the digimon standing behind him looked like.

A teddy bear.

A twenty feet tall, yellow teddy bear with a white belly and white snout.

"It's Monzaemon!" Piyomon cried, rapidly flapping her pink wings.

Monzaemon looked down at them, and smiled. "Welcome to Toy Town." He said in a surprisingly deep voice.

* * *

 **Digimon Analyzer:**  
_Monzaemon, although he looks like a stuffed animal he is actually an adult level digimon. His special attack, lovely attack, can make even his enemies happy._

* * *

"Digimon can look like that too?" Ryuu said, gazing up at the giant teddy bear.

"Yeah." Piyomon nodded. "He's much stronger than he looks." She said landing on the ground besides her partner. "He loves toys and they love him too, that's why he's the mayor of toy town."

"So he's a good digimon?"

"I think so."

They looked at Monzaemon, wondering what the giant teddy bear would do.

Monzaemon's expression remained neutral. "We've been waiting for you sir." And he opened his small eyes and shot a red laser beam from his glowing red eyes.

"Oh come on!" Ryuu cried and grabbed Piyomon's wing so he could drag her along as they ran from the new enemy. "You said he was nice!"

"I don't know why he's attacking us! Something must have happened to him!"

"Please do enjoy yourself." Monzaemon encouraged, walking after Ryuu and Piyomon. He was so big that just a step forward kept him close behind them. "Come play in Toy Town." He said firing another beam from his eyes.

Ryuu understood the English saying 'hot on your heels' when he felt the laser beam against the soles of his sneakers. "This is bad!" The nine-year-old cried already out of breath.

"Pinky! Over here!"

To their left, Ryuu and Piyomon spotted a Numemon, the same one they had met in the vending machine.

For a moment Ryuu hesitated, trusting the gross looking creature, but being stepped on by a giant teddy bear seemed like a far worse faith than potentially being betrayed by a small, stinking slime monster.

So Ryuu nodded and ran to the Numemon, where he and Piyomon could hide with it underneath a hill.

They tried to be as quiet as possible as Monzaemon passed the hill, his footsteps loud and making the ground tremble. Finally the large digimon left.

Letting out a shaky breath, Ryuu crawled to the top of the hill and watched Monzaemon's retreating form. "That was weird."

"Something happened to him." Piyomon repeated. "Do you want to investigate?"

Ryuu nodded. "Let's go Piyomon." He said getting back up.

"Wait!" Numemon cried when Ryuu and Piyomon started walking after Monzeamon. "Do I get a date with you in Toy Town?!"

"No!" Ryuu hissed before continuing on his way.

"Bye!" Piyomon waved at Numemon and followed her partner.

Numemon sighed and watch them leave. "So pink.. So blunt."

* * *

It didn't take long for them to reach Toy Town. Ryuu hadn't stopped grinning since they saw the pink, red and blue towers of a fairy tale castle emerge from between the tree tops. "It's like an amusement park!" He cried in amazement when he and Piyomon entered the town.

All houses we colored brightly. Small and compact. Some looked like dollhouses, others like gingerbread houses and others like they were built entirely of candy.  
"It's so pretty here." Ryuu breathed as he and Piyomon walked around. He grinned when he saw dozens of colorful balloons float in the air. There was only one thing that didn't match the town, and the boy's face fell. "There's no one here." The nine-year-old huffed, stopping at the center of the town.

As the words left his mouth, the two of them finally heard another sound come from the place. It sounded like a train and someone running.

"There!" Piyomon flew up when she heard someone approaching.

"This is so fun. This is so fun!" Atsushi laughed tonelessly, face blank as he ran after a toy train. "Choo choo, so fun!"

Ryuu blinked. "Atsushi-senpai?"

The older boy showed no sign of having heard Ryuu and continued to run after the train.

"It doesn't look like fun.." Ryuu said, frowning.

A stuffed pink bunny hopped out from behind a bakery and continued hop around the city center, followed by Yumoto who had a wide grin on his face, but unseeing red eyes. "Hopie hop!" Yumoto cried hopping after the toy bunny. "This is so interesting."

"Interesting?" Piyomon questioned.

"Hey let's go shopping." A barbie walked out of a show, followed by Chiyo her face was devoid of emotion.

"Chiyo-san?" Ryuu walked to the camp counselor. "What's going on? Why is everyone acting like a zombie?"

But the older girl walked right past Ryuu, like she hadn't seen him at all.

Next came Io, unlike the others he wasn't walking mechanically. No he was running and laughing loudly like a maniac followed by at least a hundred toy soldiers.

"I'm happy!" Io shouted. "I'm happy! I'm happy! I'm so happy!"

"Something's really wrong." Ryuu crossed his arms and watched Io run away.

Piyomon wanted to assure her partner. Maybe the other kids had really missed seeing toys and that's why they were acting off. But then En ran past her, laughing just like Io had.

"Banzai! Banzai!" En laughed as he was being chased by a toy helicopter. "Haha! Can't catch me."

"Okay," Piyomon nodded. "Something is wrong."

Ryuu nodded and watched his friends run around. "Like they have no emotions."

"And where are Gomamon and the others?" Piyomon said looking around, hoping to spot the digimon somewhere. "They wouldn't leave their partners."

"Then let's go look for them first." Ryuu decided. "They can tell us what's going on."

And that's what they did. Piyomon stayed on the ground in case whatever had taken the other children's emotions away would attack Ryuu too. She just hoped they found the other digimon first, they could evolve and would be... better at protecting her partner than her.

Ryuu stopped walking when he heard a muffled sound come from inside one of the buildings. It was a warehouse. Pressing his face against the window Ryuu looked inside. He saw lots of boxes in varying sizes and colors. And one big treasure chest that was... moving.

Just like in that movie with the kidnappers.

Not hesitating, Ryuu ran to the door and pushed it open.

"Ryuu!" Piyomon cried in protest. "Be careful it could be dangerous in here."

Ryuu didn't reply. He walked over to the brown, wooden treasure chest and knocked on it. "Hello?" 

The treasure chest moved and then a voice answered.

"Ryuu?"

"Armadimon." Ryuu smiled recognizing that cheery voice. "Are you okay?"

Piyomon flew up and landed on top of the treasure chest. "Gomamon, Renamon, Wormmon, Elecmon. Are you in there too?"

"We're all trapped here." Renamon answered, voice tight.

"What happened?"

"We were all beaten by Monzaemon." Gomamon answered sounding sullen about the fact that he'd been beaten by a giant teddy bear. "We were running from the Numemon and..."

 

> -  
>  _Once he had chased the Numemon away Monzaemon turned to En and Gomamon. "Welcome to Toy Town, we've been waiting for you chosen children." With that said Monzaemon opened his eyes and shot two laser beams from his eyes at them._
> 
> _"Oh crap!" En jumped out of the way and threw himself to the ground to avoid being hit by the beams._
> 
> _"I can do this!" Gomamon shouted out and ran towards Monzaemon._ "Surfer Dive!" _Gomamon leaped up and hit Monzaemon's stomach with his heavy tail and- it had no effect at all._
> 
> _"His belly is soft!" Gomamon cried running back to En._
> 
> _"It's a toy!" En yelled. "Of course he's- Run!"_
> 
> _Gomamon nodded and they tried to run away from the giant digimon._
> 
> _Monzaemon spread his arms wide and closed his eyes again. "Lovely Attack!" Twelve large, blue bubbles shot out of his body and towards En and Gomamon._
> 
> _The heart shaped bubbles went through En and trapped the boy inside of them. The same happened to Gomamon._
> 
> _Inside the bubble En felt weird. More tired and drained than he'd ever felt before._
> 
> _"En! You have to stay awake."_
> 
> _En stared at Gomamon through heavy eyelids. He understood what his partner was shouting, but at the same time. And no matter how much En fought against it. He was so sleepy._
> 
> _"There." Manzaemon said. "Now you can have your emotions erased like the others and be a toy for my toys in Toy Town."_
> 
> _It didn't take long for Gomamon to feel the effect of the attack too and fall asleep as well._

 

"And when I woke up I was locked inside this box." Gomamon finished his explanation.

Besides him Elecmon nodded. "The same happened to the rest of us."

"A toy for toys?" Ryuu repeated thinking back to what he'd seen. His friends had been running around chasing toys or being followed by toys, mindlessly repeating

the same phrases. "So it's the toys playing with them." Ryuu concluded, frowning deeply.

"But what happened to Monzaemon?" Piyomon asked, tapping her talon against the wooden box.

"I think he's like the others." Renamon answered. "That he has a black gear like Seadramon and Andromon had." 

"So it's those lords doing this." Ryuu clenched his fists in anger. "Guys can you get out of the box and help?"

"It's locked." Wormmon answered, sounding miserable. "None of our attacks work on it, but-" The green insect shook his head. "Don't worry about us! You have to save Atsushi and the others first!"

"How?" Ryuu asked, hoping there might be a button to press to give everyone their emotions back.

"By defeating Monzaemon." Gomamon answered, voice holding a silent 'duh'.

"What?" Piyomon nearly fell of the treasure chest. "How?!"

"You have to try!" Renamon insisted.

Ryuu and Piyomon shared a look. "Right." Ryuu nodded, not having a clue on how he and Piyomon were supposed to fight a digimon as big as Monzaemon. He wasn't smart like Io, En or Atsushi. Nor did he have Yumoto's accidental problem solving luck.

But their friends needed them.

"Alright Piyomon... Let's do this."

* * *

Ryuu and Piyomon were walking through Toy Town, searching for Monzaemon. Both of them wondered what they'd even do once they found their enemy.

"Monzaemon's lovely attack are supposed to be hearts stuffed with happiness." Piyomon told her partner. "They're supposed to make people feel happy and loved. It's a happy attack..."

"Happy huh?" Ryuu grimaced when he spotted one of their friends being toyed with. En was still running away from that that toy helicopter. En was going to be even more tired tonight than ever before.

"There's nothing happy about this." Ryuu muttered. His eyes narrowed when a single toy soldier exited one of the shops and walked towards him, stopping at his feet. "I'm not gonna play with you." Ryuu cried stomping his foot down and knocking the toy over.

The toy soldier let go of his spear in defeat.

Sensing a toy being hurt Monzaemon exited the gigantic castle that was supposed to be City Hall. In four large strides the huge teddy bear reached Ryuu and  Piyomon. "Welcome to Toy Town. You two should play."

"Shut up!" Ryuu clenched his fists and glared at the huge digimon. "I don't care what the digimon lords are doing to you! You can't just take away my friends emotions." His eyes narrowed and he pointed at Monzaemon. "Give them back right now or-"

He stopped talking when he saw Monzaemon's eyes begin to glow. Wincing Ryuu ran away before the digimon attacked.

"Come play!" Monzaemon started to walk after Ryuu and Piyomon, shooting beam after beam at the pair.

"Give me a break!" Ryuu gasped, heart racing. "I don't want to be killed by a toy!"

One of Monzaemon's laser beams hit the ground, creating a cloud of smoke. One unlikely allies could use to help their new crush.

Twenty Numemon emerged from their hiding spaces and launched themselves at Monzaemon, and threw their sludges at him.

"Don't worry pinky!" The Numemon leading the attack called out. "We'll save you!"

A pink turd landed right at the center of Monzaemon's forehead and the yellow digimon's eyes narrowed in both disgust and anger. "You all weren't invited to play!"

Monzaemon shouted, stomping his feet on the ground and kicking some Numemon away.

"Numemon!" Ryuu gasped in horror when some of the Numemon were kicked away so hard, they hit the brick wall of one of the shops. "They... really like us." He said looking at Piyomon who shrugged helplessly.

"They're doing their best even if all their attacks are really weak." Piyomon whispered. She and Ryuu looked at each other. Her partner nodded which was all the encouragement Piyomon needed. "I can fight too!" The pink bird declared, flapping her wings and flying towards Monzaemon.

"You can do it Piyomon!"

Piyomon flew up so she was on the same hight as Monzaemon's head. _"Magical Fire_!" She released a swirl of green flames from her beak which hit Monzaemon's cheek. It left scorch marks on the synthetic skin and the stuffed toy let out a cry of pain.

"You're not allowed to hurt me!" Monazaemon cried, sounding like a bossy toddler. He swatted and Piyomon like she was nothing more than a pesky fly.  
Ryuu swallowed nervously. Piyomon was way too small to beat a digimon like Monzaemon. But if they didn't beat him then they're friends would be stuck as toys for toys. "Be careful!"

He shouldn't have yelled.

Last thing he should have done was remind the giant teddy bear of the one child whose emotions he hadn't taken away yet.

Monzaemon looked at Ryuu, and pouted. "You're still not playing!" That voice really was too deep for sentences that childish. Monzaemon spread his arms wide  _"Lovely Attack!_ " And sent twelve bubbles out of his body, floating towards Ryuu.

"Ryuu! Run!" Piyomon frantically flapped her wings to get to her partner on time. Despite the new energy that she felt surging through her body, there was no way Piyomon would reach her partner on time.

Ryuu didn't have to run away this time.

The Numemon ran forward, and climbed on top each other- all twenty of the, to create a wall in front of Ryuu.

The blue, heart shaped bubbles that still floated towards Ryuu hit the wall of Numemon instead. The bubbles wouldn't pop on their own and kept pushing and pushing at the Numemon, but the slimy digimon were stubborn and remained standing in position.

They wouldn't keep this up for long. Ryuu dug his hand into his pocket searching for his digivice. 'What were the words Io said?! What were the words Io said?!' He thought, frantic when his fingers finally grasped the cool metal. "Piyomon!"

Piyomon felt the energy in her body increase. Those smelly Numemon shouldn't be the ones able to protect her partner. "I'm ready Ryuu!"

Ryuu held his digivice up. " _Digisoul charge!"_

White light shot out of Ryuu's digivice and Piyomon started glowing.

_"Piyomon digivolve to Birdramon!"_

Piyomon's new form was still a bird, but one a 100 times bigger than any bird Ryuu had ever seen. Birdramon was huge, had sharp teeth showing from her beak, enormous wings and... she was on fire.

Her whole body except for her beak and large talons, was shrouded in blazing orange flames.

Birdramon screeched and flew to Monzaemon. " _Meteor Wing!_ " She shrieked releasing several, large, burning feathers at Monzaemon.

The feathers hit Monzaemon, and remained stuck on the bear's chest. Still on fire.

"That hurts!" Monzaemon shouted and tried swat the big bird away.

"Not that easy now huh?!" Ryuu laughed and stuck his tongue out at the bear. "Birdramon the black gear!"

Birdramon nodded her head in the direction of her partner. She circled Monzaemon's head, easily flying high enough to stay out of reach. She didn't see a black gear on the bear's body, but when she spotted a zipper on Monzaemon's back, Birdramon had a pretty good idea where someone would hide a black gear.

Screeching, the bird changed direction. "Mach Glide!" Birdramon dove downwards, slamming into Monzaemon's neck so hard the zipper on his back ripped open and the black gear was pushed out of Monzaemon's back along with some stuffing.

The black gear remained floating in the sky, but Birdramon had no plans on letting it take away another digimon's free will.

 _"Meteor wing!_ " She released a large, burning feather and hit the black gear with it. The gear burnt up before exploding. Leaving behind millions of tiny particles which were blown away by the wind.

On the ground Ryuu was jumping up and down in excitement. "Way to go Birdramon! You're the coolest!" 

Smiling to herself, Birdramon flew back to the ground.

She had totally been cool today, hadn't she?

* * *

The sun was setting by the time Monzaemon gave back the children's emotions and freed the digimon from his treasure chest. They were all sitting on the ground on town's square so Monzaemon could explain what happened to him.

Not that the yellow bear had much memory of what led to this situation. But he could at least tell everyone about what his beautiful town was for. "When people get tired of their toys, they break them without second thought, or throw the toy in the trash. It's so sad." The teddy bear solemnly told the six children and their partners. "That's why as mayor of Toy Town I wanted to raise the social status of the toys."

Yumoto hadn't stopped hugging the sad bear's leg since he got his emotions back. But the new words made him pull back. "Social status?" The eight-year-old asked.

"I think he wanted to make us feel what it's like to be a toy." Chiyo answered, putting her hands on Yumoto's shoulders. She looked at Monzaemon. "Isn't that right sir?" Her face fell. Had she really just called a giant teddy bear 'sir'?

Monzaemon nodded. "Toys shouldn't be toyed with, but played with." He sighed sadly. "I never meant to hurt anybody though. I don't know what came over me."  
"It was that black gear." Io muttered, a dark look on his face. He was really starting to hate those things.

"Yeah," Atsushi sighed. "You weren't in control of yourself. Don't worry."

Monzaemon considered their words and nodded. "Ryuu, Piyomon, thank you for bringing me back to my senses." He said and got back to his feet.

"You're welcome." Ryuu grinned up at the bear. Monzaemon offered a place for them to stay for the night in Toy Town, and this place had actual beds and blankets, plus running water. That already made up for everything.

"I have one more way to make it up to you."

"What is it?" Piyomon asked, tiredly resting her head against Ryuu's knee. A bed sounded really nice right now.

"I'll show you my real happy attack." Monzaemon stepped back and spread his arms wide. "Lovely Attack!"

This time the bubbles that shot out of Monzaemon's body were a soft pink color and floated towards the kids in a much safer pace.

Ryuu didn't run and let one of the bubbles enveloped him. Once inside his eyes widened and the boy let out a small laugh. He was floating and the inside of the bubble felt so nice. Like he had just gotten out of rollercoaster, baba-chan made cherry pie and he won a prize at the arcade.

All nice feelings at the same time.

The other kids and their digimon let themselves be put into soft, pink bubbles as well.

"Ah," En sighed happily laying down in his bubble. It felt just like he was laying in a hammock.

Below on the ground, a manhole opened and a single Numemon came out of the sewer. "Hey Pinky!" He called out to Ryuu. "Can I get that date now?"

Grinning cheerily, Ryuu looked at the Numemon. "Nope!"

Not having expected that answer, the Numemon groaned and laid down on the ground. "So blunt." He sighed dreamily. "Nothing changed."


	6. Atsushi and Wormmon's Piercing Finish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conflict is something you can't escape, even on worlds far away from your own. Atsushi wants to make sure his friends are happy and safe, sometimes that means taking a risk...

No one spoke as they walked through yet another forest. This one filled with very tall, fir trees. The kids had left Toy Town two days ago, and by now they were really wishing they had chosen a different direction.

"So cold!" Ryuu groaned, through chattering teeth. The pink-haired boy struggled to carry Piyomon all the way, but he didn't want to let go. Not because his partner was too tired to walk by herself, but because... pink feathers were warm and his own shirt didn't go well with the cutting wind and winter-like temperature.

Io didn't have that advantage with his partner. In fact, he and Armadimon were at the back of the group. Armadimon's pace had gotten slower as the temperature got lower. "I still say we should head back and go south instead." Io said, briefly petting Armadimon's head. "At this rate it's going to snow."

Stopping the tune he'd been humming Yumoto paused, and turned to Io, a large grin on his face. "You really think it's gonna snow?" The eight-year-old asked, excited at the prospect.

"That is most likely."

"That is so cool!" Yumoto cheered. "We can have a snowball fight!"

"Oh!" Ryuu perked up at that. "Bet I could beat you all!"

"Or build a nice warm igloo to sleep in tonight." En added, chuckling tiredly. He was so done with sleeping in the cold like they had done last night.

"Yeah..." Atsushi frowned, but nodded at his friend's suggestion. How could they make light of how awful it would if it snowed? They wouldn't be able to find food, had no shelter nor the right clothes for snow.

Renamon looked at Chiyo in confusion. "You all want to fight?"

"Don't worry." Chiyo smiled at her partner, glad that Yumoto's comment made the others cheerful again. "It's a game." The girl explained as they started walking again. "You make balls of snow and throw them at each other."

"Seems.. Counterproductive." Renamon said, following after Chiyo. "The snowballs break when they hit someone or something."

"It's still fun." Chiyo shrugged.

"What's an igloo?" Elecmon asked, rubbing his head against Yumoto's leg. His partner was still going on happily, but the boy's arms and legs felt too cold for the small digimon's liking. "Is it food?"

"Nope, it's a house made out of snow."

"Sounds cold." Elecmon sighed worriedly when Yumoto didn't slow down.

En shook his head. "I heard that they're actually really warm."

The kids continued their walk, explaining various snow activities to the digimon. However fifteen minutes later they stopped shocked at the sight that greeted them. They hadn't _actually_ expected this.

"Snow!" Yumoto cheered running onto the snow covered valley. Forgetting his worries, Elecmon ran after his partner.

"Look this is how you make a snowball." Yumoto explained, scooping up a decent amount of snow and making a ball of it. "Help me make lots of them!"

Elecmon nodded and followed Yumoto's example, having trouble shaping balls with his paws.

Shivering, Ryuu rested his cheek against Piyomon's fathers. "Now it really is too cold." He muttered, he smiled briefly when Piyomon moved closer to him. He stopped caring that the guys saw him hug his pink bird. It was too darn cold now.

"Ryuu-senpai! Here it comes!"

Ryuu lifted his head just in time to be hit in the face by a snowball.

"Gotcha!"

"Why you-!" Crying out in outrage, Ryuu let go of Piyomon, grabbed a handful of snow and ran after Yumoto. Piyomon, of course running after him.

Io rolled his eyes. "Games won't get us home or-" The ten-year-old stopped talking when a stray snowball connected to his chest. The boy shivered and looked down at the wet splotches on his shirt. "Come on Armadimon. I'll show them how to use the cold!" When Armadimon nodded, Io scooped two handfuls of snow and ran after Yumoto and Ryuu.

"This is great." Gomamon smiled, white tail wagging playfully. The seal-like digimon wasn't bothered by the snow or cold weather at all. "En are we gonna play too?"

"Next time buddy." En replied as he zipped his jacket back up. In hindsight, he'd been lucky when he chose to wear his jacket the day they disappeared from camp. En looked at Chiyo and Atsushi. "So do we have to keep walking?"

"Walking in the snow?" Atsushi adjusted his glasses and shook his head. "No... It's too cold and there might not be food here." They had to at least get back to the good part of the forest.

Chiyo sucked on her inner cheek as thought about their options. "We can't go back either." She admitted. "It's getting late already..."

"Then let's keep walking instead of standing here and freeze-" En stopped talking when he noticed Renamon and Gomamon had their heads lifted up and were sniffing the air. "What is it?"

"I smell something." Renamon informed them. "And it smells... awful."

"Awful?" Chiyo smelled the air. She did indeed smell something, but it didn't smell awful. In fact, it almost smelled familiar. "It's an-"

"Onsen!" En cried, pointing ahead, where smoke could be seen rising above the trees.

Yumoto, Ryuu and Io stopped running through the snow and turned around. "Onsen?!"

"I wanna take a bath!" Yumoto cried.

"A hot one!" Ryuu nodded rapidly.

Atsushi was quiet as he watched the others and their digimon run off in the direction of the onsen. Sure a hot bath sounded delightful, but they couldn't just take a bath in the middle of a snow-covered valley. Especially with the risks of a monster attacking any moment.

It also wouldn't help them get home, just make the risk of one of them getting sick or hurt worse.

Besides Atsushi, Wormmon looked down. "I wish I could smell." The green digimon murmured in defeat.

"I'm sure you do your best." Atsushi said, not liking the sad look on his partner's face. "You have other talents a nose can't beat." He said and bent down to pick the worm-like digimon up. "Hey," His eyes widened in shock when he felt Wormmon's skin. "You're freezing!"

"I'm okay..." Despite his words, Wormmon immediately nuzzled his cheek against Atsushi's chest once he was lifted up. "I didn't want to slow us down."

"You wouldn't have! Oh..." Biting on his lower lip, the eleven-year-old looked around for a way to keep his shivering partner warm. When he didn't find anything Atsushi decided Wormmon could hide underneath his shirt. "You should tell people when you don't feel well or are bothered by something, so they can help. You don't have to do things on your own Worm-chan." Atsushi gently informed his partner once Wormmon stuck his head out off Atsushi's collar. "Come on," Atsushi smiled. "Let's go find the others."

It didn't take that long for Atsushi to reach the others. He found them and their partners sitting around a pool of boiling hot water, in a rocky area. "It's not an onsen huh?"

"Nope." Chiyo clicked her tongue. "No bath again tonight."

"Gross..." Ryuu muttered, glaring at the boiling water as if it had wronged him greatly.

Yumoto pouted, but then shrugged. "At least it's nice and warm here."

Atsushi didn't reply. Normally he admired Yumoto's optimism and cheerful attitude, but right now it just left him feeling even more tired. He busied himself with getting Wormmon out of his shirt and putting him close to the water pool.

"Maybe we should set up camp here?" Io suggested from where he sat.

"We can't." Atsushi shut down. "There's no way to get food."

"Sure there is."

Atsushi sighed tiredly. "No there isn't Yumoto..."

"But senpai look!"

They all turned to look at Yumoto was pointing at, and fell quiet. Telephone cells, and trains were one thing, but... a single refrigerator standing in the middle of a field was... not the strangest thing they had seen.

"It won't work." Atsushi said looking from En to Chiyo. "It can't work right?"

"Only one way to find out." Chiyo got up and walked to the fridge.

"Careful." Renamon jumped up and ran over to her partner. She stood besides Chiyo, ready to attack in case this human-made machine had Numemon in it, like the vending machines from a few days ago.

"I hope there's cherries inside." Ryuu said as he slowly crept closer to the fridge. 

Io shook his head. "Those would be rotten."

"Okay, but still..."

Shaking her head, Chiyo reached forward and quickly pulled the fridge open, expecting the worst. It took her a moment to recognize what was inside. Not because the food was foreign looking, or was too rotten to be recognizable. No it took Chiyo a minute to recognize the food in the fridge, because it was so surreal. "Eggs..." The dark-haired girl whispered. There had to be at least a hundred eggs in there. "Eggs!" Chiyo repeated louder, as she turned to the boys.

"Eggs?!"

"Nice!" En smirked. He still hadn't moved too far away from the pool of boiling water. "Means dinner is taken care of."

"Eh?" Atsushi stiffened. "We can't eat those!"

Ryuu blinked and tilted his head. "Why not? We got lucky here right?"

Io nodded. "It would be a waste not to eat them." His statement was based on logic and of course had nothing to do with how loud his stomach was growling.

"We don't even know if they're really edible!"

Grinning, Yumoto raised his hand. "I'll test them for poison!"

Chuckling at the other's enthusiasm Chiyo nodded. "Let's get ready. How many ways can we make these eggs?!"

The kids and their digimon went to work. Yumoto and Ryuu searched for firewood and stones. They used it to make a fire, over which En and Io put the large, flat rock over –it was held up by smaller rocks.

Atsushi used the flat rock as a grill to bake the eggs on, while Chiyo used the nets Wormmon had made with his attack to dip several eggs in the boiling water pool. The digimon used their abilities to cut of tree branches, and made them into plates and chopsticks.

Two hours later, when it was already getting dark, Atsushi and Chiyo presented the dinner they had put together. One large wooden plate filled with fried eggs, and one wooden bowl filled with boiled eggs.

"Let's eat!" Chiyo exclaimed feeling more at ease than she had in days. Eggs, were her favorite food and it had been way too long since they had food from home. Grinning the girl raised her makeshift chopsticks up high before digging in.

The others all followed her example, chewing loudly and hungrily stuffing their mouths. It wasn't like there were any adults there to tell them how to behave.

Atsushi was the only one who wasn't acting out on his hunger. In fact, the eleven-year-old had yet to take a single bite and was just poking at his fried egg with the chopsticks his partner had helped him make.

"Atsushi," En called out, noticing his friend's sad expression. "Is something wrong?"

Surprised at being called out, Atsushi looked up. "I.." Swallowing, Atsushi ducked his head and looked at his food again. "I was just thinking." He answered, poking at his egg again. "We wouldn't have to go through all this trouble just to get dinner if we were at home..."

Atsushi regretted his words the moment the left his mouth. Silence followed his statement, so Atsushi slowly dared to look up. He winced when he saw the sad and tired looks on his friends' faces.

"It's been about a week now, hasn't it?" Io asked no one in particular, and he put his chopstick down.

"Everyone must be looking for us." Ryuu agreed. The pink-haired boy reached into his pocket and pulled his cell phone out of it. There was no signal, and the screen was once again black. Ryuu couldn't help but wonder if his grandma had tried calling him.

Smile gone, Yumoto pulled his legs to his chest and rested his chin on top of his knees. He wanted a real hot bath and to see his big brother again. Yes all their new friends were amazing, and Elecmon was the best cuddle-buddy ever, but, "I wanna go home..."

"Guys..." Atsushi bit his lip. This wasn't what he wanted! He should have kept his thoughts to himself. "I didn't mean to..."

Taking in everyone's forlorn expressions En took one more bite of his fried eggs and leaned back. "Hey, just curious. How do you guys eat your eggs at home?"

It took a few seconds before any of them could respond to the sudden topic change.

"With salt and pepper." Chiyo shrugged. That was all eggs needed.

"Fried with soft rice." Io added and grabbed his plate again.

"I like mayonnaise on mine!" Yumoto piped up, raising his hand.

Ryuu's smile returned at that and he nodded, agreeing with Yumoto's words. "Me too! I like eggs on my sandwiches!"

While the conversation stayed on the topic of food and how they enjoyed it best, Atsushi looked down again. He wanted to help, but all he seemed to do today was make things worse. He almost withheld food from his friends, and by sharing his worries only resulted in making everyone sad.

Sighing, Atsushi put his plate down and got up. "I'm going for a walk." The glasses-wearing boy announced.

"Oh, wait." Wormmon swallowed another boiled egg whole and walked over to Atsushi. "I'll come too."

"No, thanks Worm-chan, I won't go too far." Atsushi said before walking into the forest, not aware of how his partner was watching him with worried eyes.

* * *

True to his word Atsushi had only gone to one of boiling pools to sit there. When he returned to his friends he found them stuck in a heated discussion. "What's going on?" Atsushi asked, sitting down on the ground with them.

The boy smiled when Wormmon immediately crawled over to him. "We can't decide if we should climb Infinity Mountain." Wormmon answered, resting his head against Atsushi's knee.

"Infinity Mountain?"

"It's the largest mountain over there." Armadimon clarified by pointing his paw in the direction of the three large mountains up head.

Io nodded, chin raised slightly. "I for one am against climbing a mountain named _infinity_."

"But Iooo," Ryuu whined. "If we climb to the top we'd be able to see everything around us and know how to get back to camp."

"Just like climbing a tree." En agreed, grimacing at the thought of climbing that mountain. Not only because of the height. "Only if you fall, you're dead." Which officially made mountain climbing too much of a risk for them to even bother.

Chiyo had been gazing at the fire this whole time, sighed and gave up on the plan. "It's not safe."

"But we could try getting halfway." Yumoto insisted. "That way we'll still see lots. Right?"

They were all looking at him now, and Atsushi swallowed nervously when he realized they were waiting for his thoughts on the matter. "Well... Ryuu and Yumoto are right. We'd get a good view of our surroundings and know where to go."

"Ha!" Yumoto and Ryuu bumped their fists together to celebrate one of their senpai agreeing with them. Their faces fell when Atsushi continued.

"But En-chan and the others are right too. It would be a big risk and if all of us go..." Atsushi's eyes widened when he realized the best way to solve this conflict. Why put everyone at risk when they didn't have to? "Let's all just sleep on it tonight." He suggested, smiling a small smile. "It's getting late after all."

They deserved their rest.

* * *

After leaving a note for his friends, in case he wouldn't be back before dawn, Atsushi grabbed his bag again and then, careful to not wake anyone, left the cave.

Having read about heroes climbing mountains on their journeys for adventure, Atsushi knew he shouldn't rush on his way to the mountain. He'd need his energy for the way to the top or he wouldn't make it on time.

Once he reached the foot of Infinity Mountain, Atsushi stopped walking. Time to acknowledge the soft footsteps he'd been pretending not to notice this whole time. "It's okay Worm-chan, you should go back to camp."

"Oh... you knew I was. Doesn't matter." Wormmon shook his head. "I'm coming with you!"

"That's sweet Worm-chan, but it's dangerous." Atsushi walked over to his partner and patted Wormmon's head. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I don't want you to get hurt either!" Wormmon argued, blue eyes wide in distress. "Please don't go alone!"

"Wormmon..."

Wormmon didn't plan on backing down, and met Atsushi's eyes with a pleading look. "You should tell people when you don't feel well or are bothered by something, so they can help." His partner should really follow his own advice. After all Atsushi had looked sad all day and didn't tell anyone what was bothering him. "So I'm gonna help you." Wormmon decided with conviction.

Without waiting for Atsushi's reply, Wormmon walked over to the mountain and began following the path that would lead to the top.

For several seconds Atsushi watched the small larva-like digimon, a small smile forming on his face. "Thanks," Atsushi said, easily catching up to his partner. "You're really brave for such a little guy."

"Brave?" Wormmon blushed, which made his green cheeks gain a purple color.

Atsushi nodded at they climbed. It didn't take long for the path to become steeper and steeper. "You know," Atsushi grunted when he nearly slipped. "When I was younger I wanted to be a superhero. I didn't realize that being brave was so hard."

"Huh?" Wormmon frowned, but made sure to walk behind Atsushi in case his friend slipped again. "But isn't climbing this mountain incredibly brave of you too?"

It took a while for Atsushi to answer. "I don't really feel brave." The boy admitted, not looking at his partner. "I'm worried all the time. I miss home and I have no idea how to help the others when they feel bad either."

"But... You're not always supposed to make sure they don't feel bad right?"

Atsushi held on to the mountain wall as he followed the path upwards, already slightly out of breath. "I like taking care of people, and I don't want anyone to be upset." Which was why he had to be one to climb this stupid mountain. "So I hope that we can find a way home if we look at the view from the top of the mountain."

Perhaps Atsushi underestimated how hard it would be to climb Infinity Mountain. He and Wormmon walked over thing ridges, jumped from stepping stone to stepping stone when they reached a small river, and on occasion even had to climb over frighteningly large boulders.

Four hours later Atsushi was helping Wormmon climb down a boulder. Once on stable ground, the pair slid down. Both panting in exhaustion.

"I... I think we reached halfway." Atsushi breathed, briefly closing his eyes.

"Hmm.. Can we nap? It's late."

"It's early." Atsushi corrected, stifling a yawn. He was about to suggest they stop for a drink and then continue on their way to the top, when the mountain started trembling.

It wasn't violent shaking, but still enough to alarm Atsushi who hurriedly turned around. His brown eyes widened in shock he saw dozens of black gears float out of a circle-shaped hole which had formed near the mountain top.

"So many!"

Wormmon watched all gears fly out of sight. "Where do you think they're going?"

"To take away the free will of more digimon in the forest..." Atsushi looked at the mountain, eyes narrowing when he saw that the hole had closed up already, all sign of it ever being there gone. "Where did the gears come from? And why-"

"Atsushi! Something is coming!"

"More black gears?" Atsushi didn't wait for an answer. He heard the same thing Wormmon had. The flapping of wings.

Turning around Atsushi saw what was flying towards the mountain. A horse.

A grey hose with black, leathery wings and a horn on top of its' head, which was covered by a red, futuristic helmet. And it was flying straight to the mountain.

"It's Unimon." Wormmon relaxed and let out a relieved sigh. "Don't worry, he's a kind digimon."

* * *

 **Digimon Analyzer.**  
_Unimon. A sweet digimon whose form is a mix of legendary beasts Unicorn and Pegasus. His special attack is shooting a fireball called Holy Shot._

* * *

"Hide!" Atsushi cried, quickly grabbing Wormmon and running to a large rock to hide.

"But-"

"The digimon information you guys give hasn't been accurate so far." Atsushi hissed. He peeked out from behind the boulder, watching Unimon land on the mountain ridge. Unimon walked over to the mountain wall, where a thin stream of water trickled down, and began drinking.

He looked so peaceful and at ease. Atsushi smiled, releasing his grip around Wormmon.

"See?" Wormmon chirped, looking up. "He's nice, let's go say hi." He walked out from behind the boulder, a greeting already on his lips when the mountain trembled again.

Atsushi actually felt himself go pale. "Worm-chan, get back!" The eleven-year-old screamed, truly terrified that the upcoming black gear would enter his partner this time. The boy was actually relieved when the black gear flew past Wormmon, and violently forced itself into the back of Unimon's neck.

His relief was short lived, when Unimon screeched in pain. The horse-like digimon neighed loudly, before going stiff.

Wormmon and Atsushi gulped when Unimon slowly turned around and stepped towards them.

"His eyes!" Wormmon gasped in fear at the side of the glowing red eyes. "They've got him!"

And now he had _them_.

* * *

The sun was nice and warm when it hit Yumoto's face. Not knowing if it was early or late, the boy sat up, stretched his arms and yawned. "Time to go already." Yumoto mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Looking around, the eight-year-old saw that all his companions and their digimon partners were still asleep.  
All except for...

"Atsushi-senpai?" Getting up Yumoto looked around the cave for the older boy who wasn't laying next to En, where Yumoto had left him the night before. Curious, Yumoto left the cave, expecting to find Atsushi sitting in sun.

He almost stepped over the message written on the ground with small rocks.

_'Went to climb the mountain, be back tomorrow'_

But why didn't he wake them up if he wanted to go- Realizing Atsushi must have left the night before, Yumoto ran back into the cave. "Oneechan, En-chan-senpai! Wake up!"

* * *

Atsushi and Wormmon screamed when Unimon's attack destroyed another boulder behind them. They had to keep running, no matter how close the heat of Unimon's attacks felt. "Worm-chan!" Atsushi held onto his partner. "Can't you do something?!"

"Like what?!" Wormmon cried, pressing his back against Atsushi's chest.

Digivolve? Atsushi thought it but didn't say it. The boy racked his mind, trying to remember what the others had told about their partners evolving. Gomamon and Renamon had digivolved on instinct, but Io and Ryuu had helped Armadimon and Piyomon evolve with Digisoul.

What even was digisoul? Io had said something about sharing energy, and Ryuu had explained that the experience had felt like he and Piyomon had felt the same will to fight and win. Neither explanation helped now.

Atsushi was so focused on trying to figure out how to get Wormmon to evolve, that he didn't notice Unimon fly over their heads and lower himself in front of them.  
"Oh no..." Hugging Wormmon tightly, Atsushi sank down, realizing there was nowhere left to run.

Atsushi and Wormmon clung to each other in fear, there was nowhere left to run when Unimon opened his mouth, the blue of his attack already visible.

"I-is this it?!" Atsushi cried out, clenching his eyes shut when the light of Unimon's attack got brighter.

There was a loud, unfamiliar screech, and Unimon neighed, his attack interrupted.

Slowly Atsushi and Wormmon uncurled from each other, and dared to look up. They let out loud gasps when they saw that a giant, burning bird had tackled Unimon and pushed it out of the way.

"Birdramon!" Atsushi exclaimed, instantly recognizing the large digimon from Ryuu's vivid explanation.

"Atsushi!" En, Ryuu and Gomamon were holding onto Birdramon's legs, and jumped off when the bird flew close enough to the ground. 

"En-chan..."

"Idiot," En said once he reached his friend. For once his blue eyes were wide open and, he looked pale too. If they had arrived any later..."Why did you go off on your own?!"

"I wanted to go, so you guys didn't have to-"

A pained screech from Birdramon had them all looking up again, just as Unimon fired another fireball at the bird, sending her crashing down to a lower part of mountain.

"Birdramon!" Pulling away from his senpai, Ryuu ran forward and began climbing down, wanting to reach his partner.

Eyes narrowing, En glanced down at Gomamon. "You feel that?"

Gomamon nodded. "Sure do."

Nodding En grabbed his digivice and held it up high. _"Digisoul charge!"_

"Gomamon digivolve to... Ikkakumon!"

Ikkakumon tried headbutting Unimon, only to have the horse fly out of the way. Instead the furry digimon ended up slamming so his head against the mountain instead, causing the mountain wall to tremble, and for several pebbles and rocks to roll down.

"Ikkakumon!" En cried, stepping closer to the dented stone wall. He regretted it right away, when he heard a terrifying crack in the ground underneath him. "Ikkakumon, don't move!" En yelled, realizing how foolish he'd been to have Gomamon evolve to Ikkakumon on a place like this. "You're too heavy, don't walk around!"

"En-chan! Ryuu!" Atsushi got up and walked closer to edge of the mountain path. Birdramon had recovered and was already trying to hit Unimon with her attack. Atsushi gasped when Birdramon was hit by Unimon's holy shot. This was his fault... Ryuu and En's partners wouldn't have to fight if it weren't for him.

Atsushi's eyes landed on the black gear, of which he could still the tip stick out of Unimon's neck.

It wasn't right. Unimon had been so peaceful before, now that black gear forcing him to act like this. "It's because of the gear." Atsushi muttered, stepping even closer to the edge of the mountain side. They wouldn't need to fight if the gear was out of Unimon.

"Atsushi?" Wormmon nervously called out.

Atsushi didn't reply, he watched as Unimon flew closer, just below him, almost close enough and... Atsushi jumped down.

"Atsushi!" Wormmon gasped in horror and ran to the cliff edge. The little digimon choked in a painful mixture of relief and fear when he saw Atsushi on top of Unimon's back. "Atsushi!"

It was only thanks to the black gear that Atsushi had anything to hold onto in the first place. "I have to get it out." Atsushi grunted. He gripped the gear with both hands and pulled.

Naturally this wasn't exactly painless for Unimon.

The flying horse shrieked, and started to shake violently, wanting to rid himself of his extra passenger.

"Whoa!" Atsushi lost his balance when Unimon started to struggle. The boy held on to the black gear for dear life, which still didn't budge from its' spot.

"Atsushi?!"

"Senpai?!"

En and Ryuu finally noticed what Atsushi was doing, but Atsushi was too busy clinging to the black gear to give them any attention. "I have to do this!" He tried to pull the gear out one more time. Unimon neighed loudly, and arched his back.

"N-no, no-" His fingers were starting to slip. "W-wait!"

Of course the flying horse didn't listen. Unimon only struggled harder, and harshly shook until he felt the person fall off his back.

It happened so fast. Atsushi wasn't even sure how he lost his grip. Just that he had and now he was falling. The biting wind hurt his face, his heart was racing and the rocks on the ground were getting closer and closer- Yet Atsushi didn't scream.

The eleven-year-old child just stared in horror at the rapidly approaching ground.

"ATSUSHI!" Wormmon didn't think as he jumped off the mountain. He had to get to his partner!

The larva-like digimon didn't notice his body was glowing until he felt a new power surge through him.

"Wormmon digivolve to... Stingmon!"

Atsushi choked, tears in his eyes which he quickly snapped shut when he was only seconds away from hitting the ground.

Strong arms wrapped around him, and the next thing Atsushi knew he was being held protectively to a broad chest. Still scared, Atsushi opened his eyes and found himself looking at large, red, bug-like eyes on a green face.

Swallowing nervously, Atsushi held onto his savior. Those emotionless eyes were unnerving, but... "Worm-chan?"

"It's me." Stingmon nodded, his voice much deeper than Wormmon's high-pitched soft tone. "Let's get rid of that black gear."

Atsushi studied his partner's new form. Stingmon was an insect, with the eyes of a fly, and wings of a mosquito. But he was also humanoid. Larger and broader than a human. He had a dark green exoskeleton, and metal spikes on both his arms.

This digimon may look scary, but it had still saved him. It was still Worm-chan. "Right." Atsushi nodded and held onto his partner a little tighter. "Let's make it quick. We don't have to hurt Unimon more."

Stingmon nodded and charged at Unimon, but the flying horse had already seen the new digimon, and fired another fireball at Stingmon.

This blue fireball was huge, but Stingmon easily dodged, and flew past it.

"You're so fast now!"

Stingmon nodded, and although he didn't have a mouth, the digimon grinned internally at the praise. "Let's go for the finish!" He charged at Unimon again, one fist held out,

 _"Piercing Finish!"_ Stingmon cried, when his spikes connected with the black gear.

The black gear shot out of Unimon's neck and shattered mid air.

The grey horse blinked, disorientated. Unimon shook his head and flapped his wings, quickly flying away from the mountain and from the digimon which seemed to be attacking him.

"You did it!" Atsushi cheered. "You did it!"

"We did it." Stingmon corrected. "Hold on!" He said before flying back to the mountain where Ikkakumon had already de-evolved back into Gomamon. Ryuu and Piyomon had made their way back to them as well.

"Guys!" Atsushi rushed to his friends once Stingmon put him down. "Thank goodness you're all safe."

"That was awesome!" Ryuu grinned, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet. "You were really cool there Atsushi-senpai."

"You jumped off a cliff." En stated incredulously. "It was scary to watch, but you were really brave there."

Atsushi's eyes widened in surprise. "You think so En-chan?" He asked, cheeks heating up.

"Of course!"

Smiling Atsushi turned around, just in time to see Stingmon glow and de-evolve back into Wormmon. "Hear that Worm-chan, looks like we were both really brave today?"

"Both?"

"Both." Atsushi nodded and patted Wormmon's head. "Thanks Worm-chan."

"Aww!" Piyomon giggled when she saw Wormmon's cheeks gain a purple hue. "Wormmon is blushing!"

"It's sweet." Ryuu added grinning.

En turned around and looked at the mountain top. "We're already this far, might as well go to the top right?"

"Right!"

It was much easier to climb the rest of the way to the mountain top, while they were still high on adrenaline from the fight.

However the moment Atsushi reached the top the excitement disappeared. This... It was all for nothing.

"N-no way..." Ryuu murmured, shaking his head as he walked around on the mountain top. "No way!"

En didn't say anything, just looked around and taking in the view. He had known that they were on an island, but... Not like this.

From on top of Infinity Mountain they could see the whole island, saw how big the island really was, and recognized some places. They could see the ocean surrounding File Island.

But that was it.

There were no other islands or boats or anything.

They were truly stuck.


	7. Messenger of Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despair. Is there any way for the children to leave this island and return home? And fear. Why is the warrior of justice attacking them? En meets someone familiar, and there is a reason why one shouldn't trust fallen angels.

"Unbelievable..." Chiyo choked once she, Io, Yumoto and their partners finally reached the top of Infinity Mountain.

Sure the digimon called this place File Island, but that didn't mean- she hadn't considered that they were on an actual island. It didn't make sense. You don't go from being surrounded by cabins and other people on camp one moment, and then be stuck on an island filled with talking monsters the next. "This can't... How?"

"There is no explanation..." Io murmured slowly lowering himself to sit next to Ryuu was sitting on the ground, indian style and gazing at the view. "And... There is no way back."

* * *

Leomon, a tall, muscular beast-man-digimon with orange fur, a yellow mane, and dressed in black pants, was also exploring Infinity Mountain. "Another one,"

Leomon frowned when he saw a large black gear fly past him. It was the fifth one he'd seen in the last hour. One thing was for sure, the black gears were definitely coming from Infinity Mountain, and Leomon already knew who was to blame for this disaster.

* * *

 **Digimon Analyzer**.  
_Leomon, a proud beast-man type digimon with a large sense for justice. His special attack is called Fist of the beast king_.

* * *

"Maybe I'm not too late to stop their corruption." Leomon muttered as he continued walking. He should have prevented Devimon from finding even one of the Chosen Children, let alone three. But maybe it wasn't too late for the lords. Leomon could only hope so, for their worlds' sake.

He didn't make it much further when a loud, raspy voice called out "Die!"

Leomon turned around just in time to see Orgremon, a large, broad shouldered, green digimon in ripped shorts leap from a boulder and swing his bone club at Leomon.

* * *

 **Digimon Analyzer.**  
_Ogremon, an evil digimon whose anger gives him destructive power._

* * *

Leomon quickly pulled out his sword, using it to block Ogremon's attack. Their weapons were pushed against each other as the two sworn enemies glared at one another. This how it had been going for decades.

Once again they were evenly matched and both lost grip of their weapon.

"These mountains are no place for a goody-two-shoes like you Leomon." Orgremon snarled, his large mouth open to show out hundreds of sharp, long teeth. "Get out!"

Leomon's expression remained the same as he looked at Ogremon. "The black gears come from this mountain, not to mention that three of the chosen are being held close by." Leomon lifted his fists and got in a fighting stance. "You think I'd ignore this?!"

Those brats didn't even know that they needed saving. "Die!" Ogremon cried clenching his fist and aiming it at Leomon. _"Fist of the supreme king!_ " A dark purple energy shot out of Ogremon's fist and towards Leomon.

 _"Fist of the beast king!"_ Leomon's attack was an orange blast of energy, in the shape of a lion shooting out of his fist.

The two attacks hit each other causing a snap in the energy around them, making the mountain tremble and several large rocks slide down from the mountain wall.  
Ogremon and Leomon smirked at each other, they had done this before after all.

"Heh," Ogremon let out a small huff. "Prepare to-"

"Cease your fighting."

The new voice wasn't loud. It was in a deep monotone that still had Ogremon and Leomon lowering their fists when the temperature around them got colder. Both adult level digimon knew who that voice belonged to.

"From now on you two shall cooperate with each other."

"That voice..." Leomon looked behind him for the fallen-angel type digimon.

"Devimon." Ogremon nodded.

The moment Ogremon spoke the evil digimon's name, Devimon appeared in the small space between them. His large leathery wings with holes in them were spread out, and Devimon had his long bony arms crossed over his chest as if he was in a coffin.

* * *

 **Digimon analyzer**  
_Devimon, a cruel digimon of the digital world. With his death claw attack he grabs control over his enemies' hearts and takes away their free will._

* * *

Devimon towered over both adult level digimon, but Leomon didn't show how that unnerved him.

It wasn't Devimon's dark aura that bothered Ogremon though. "Gimme a break!" The green-skinned digimon exclaimed in outrage. "Why do I have to work with this guy!"

Devmon's pale lips twisted in a thin smile. "The rest of the chosen children have arrived."

Leomon stiffened. How could he not know that the other chosen children were on the island. "The children.." Glaring at Devimon, Leomon took a step forward, his large fists clenched. "I will not let you corrupt them!"

"Who said anything about corrupting?" Devimon questioned. "Ruining three of the chosen children is one way to make it so the prophecy won't be true. Killing all of them will guarantee it." Devimon left out the fact that he was losing his grip over the three lords which were losing their trust in him.

Devimon hadn't failed to notice how none of them had entered the control room since he had insisted on sending an Unimon after Atsushi. Even Kinshirou had been against it and even been frightened when Atsushi had fallen from Unimon's back.

Akoya had stopped looking at Devimon since the fallen angel had snapped at him. And it was no secret that Arima had only gone along with the 'game' for the sake of his two friends.

Devimon knew he had lost his grip on them and they were losing respect in him, but it didn't matter. It would all end today.

"You're the one that needs to be defeated then Devimon! _Fist of the beast king_!" Leomon cried releasing his attack at Devimon.

The orange beam went towards Devimon, but just as it was about the hit Devimon, the large digimon's body became intangible and the energy blast went straight through him.

Blue eyes widening, Leomon gasped when his attack only hit the mountain wall.

"How naïve." Devimon spoke, keeping himself invisible from his enemy. "You thought your attack was powerful enough to harm me." The monster chuckled darkly. _"Death claw!"_ Devimon's arm shot out of the ground, his claw emitting a black energy as it entered Lemon's back.

Leomon roared in pain, feeling the cold claw wrap around his heart.

Red sparks shot out of the beast-man's wound, and Devimon smirked. "Accept your baptism to evil.

Leomon slumped forward when Devimon finally pulled his claw back, he was already growling, much like the lion he resembled. His posture was stiff as he turned around and bowed to Devimon.

* * *

"Yumoto?" Elecmon asked, watching his partner take another look at the view from the mountain before drawing something else on the piece of paper that Atsushi had given him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm making a map." Yumoto answered, adding a few dots on his map to indicate the snowy area he was looking at. "It might be useful for us later on."

Hearing Yumoto's words, Io, En and Chiyo walked over to Yumoto to look at the map. "You're right." Io said. "A map will surely be useful for us- Oh..." Io's face fell when he saw in the scribbles and lines Yumoto had drawn.

"It doesn't look useful at all." En stated bluntly, a grimace on his face.

"Drawing isn't Yumo-chan's specialty." Chiyo added, rubbing the back of her head. She considered asking Atsushi for a piece of paper as well. She had always enjoyed sketching. But she doubted she could make a decent map, especially consider her current mood. "It's... still a good idea though kid." Chiyo said, patting Yumoto's shoulder.

"It doesn't matter if it doesn't look good." Yumoto replied, not bothered by his friends' comments. "I drew it, so I can understand it."

Ryuu and Atsushi were sitting on the ground a few feet away from the others. Neither of them interested in maps that didn't have the way home on them. "There's no point." Atsushi murmured petting Wormmon's head.

Glaring at nothing in particular, Ryuu clenched his fists and got to his feet. "It's not fair!" He cried, gaining the others' attention. "Why did this have to happen to us?!"

A loud banging noise and the mountain shake interrupted before anyone could say a word to the distraught nine-year-old.

"What was that?!" Atsushi asked, quickly getting up and looking around in fear of another monster coming for them.

"We have to go look!" Yumoto said, folding his map.

"Do we have to?" En asked, looking at Gomamon who shrugged.

The children ran to the source of the sound, stopping meters in front of a new huge gap in their path.

"We can't get through." Piyomon stated the obvious. "Maybe I can fly there and oh- Look!" The pink bird smiled. "It Leomon."

"Leomon?" Ryuu asked looking at his partner.

"Leomon is a friendly digimon." Piyomon explained. "I heard lots of stories about him."

"It's true." Renamon nodded. "He's a very strong noble digimon who stands up for those who've been wronged."

Atsushi was about to remind the digimon how the rumors they heard so far hadn't been corrected _once_ , when Leomon looked at them. "His eyes!" Leomon's eyes weren't red like that of a digimon controlled by a black gear, no they were completely white without iris or pupil.

"Kill.. The children." Leomon grunted, unsheathing his sword from behind his back.  
  
"Run!" Chiyo yelled, already pushing Yumoto forward to give the kid a boost.

The children ran away from Leomon, none of them watching Leomon leap over the gap in the path and start chasing him.

The sound of his growls getting louder and closer was enough of an indicator that he was gaining up on them.

As Yumoto ran, a folded piece of paper slipped out of his pocket and the wind blew it forward.

Feeling the change of weight in his pocket, Yumoto turned around and gasped. "My map!" Yumoto ran after the piece of paper and away from his friends.

"Yumoto!" Chiyo made a grab for the boy, but he was too fast.

Yumoto didn't see the problem with running the other way until Leomon's sword ripped through the piece of paper.

The boy froze, Leomon's sword suddenly very close to his face.

 _"Sparkling thunder!"_ Lightning bolts shot out of Elecmon's tails and hit Leomon's sword. It burned Yumoto's map, but at least it got Leomon to take several steps backwards.

Yumoto quickly turned around and ran to Elecmon, and they continued to run from Leomon.

"Sorry I ruined your map!" Elecmon apologized when he and Yumoto reached the rest of the group.

"Will you all forget about that map!" En cried grabbing a hold of Yumoto's wrist and dragging the younger boy along.

They ran down the path, coming to a sudden halt when another digimon jumped down and block their path.

"Thought you could escape huh?" Ogremon laughed, swinging his bone club in the air.

"It's Ogremon!" Armadimon exclaimed, putting himself in front of Io.

"You're going to tell me that ugly thing is supposed to be a nice guy too?!" Ryuu yelled, clenching his fists and slowly backing away from Ogremon.

"No," Gomamon shook his head. "Ogremon is rotten for real."

"Then we should-" Chiyo cut herself off and let out a small cry when she saw Leomon had gained up on them. "We're trapped!"

"This must have been their plan from the start." Io realized, nervously looking at both large digimon.

"But that can't be!" Wormmon yelled, waving his short arms up. "Leomon and Ogremon are mortal enemies!"

Wormmon's words didn't remind Leomon and Ogremon that they were supposed to be on opposing teams.

Instead both predator—like digimon leaped up in the air and released their attacks at the children.

_"Fist of the beast king!"_

_"Fist of the supreme king!"_

With an orange energy shot coming towards them from their right and a purple energy shot approaching from their left, the children ducked their heads in fear, not noticing five shots of lights emitting from their digivices.

"Gomamon digivolve to... Ikkakumon!"

"Renamon digivolve to... Kyubimon!"

"Armadimon digivolve to... Ankylomon!"

"Piyomon digivolve to.. Birdramon!"

"Wormmon digivolve to... Stingmon!"

The light that surrounded the digimon was they evolved and got bigger was enough to deflect Leomon and Ogremon's attacks.

Kyubimon wasted no time and jumped onto Ankylomon's head. _"Fox tail inferno!"_ She shot a blue ball of fire at Leomon who easily blocked the attack with his sword.

"Boys! Over here!" Chiyo hollered, pointing to a thin boulder near the mountain wall, only just big enough for them to hide behind.

"Come on Elecmon!" Yumoto said, struggling to lift Elecmon up and drag him to the hiding spot with them.

"I want to protect you!"

"That's sweet!" Yumoto grunted, but managed to drag Elecmon with him. "But you can't evolve yet. So we can't help."

At that reminder, Elecmon sagged forward, going limp in Yumoto's arms which was something Yumoto actually appreciated very much. Yumoto hugged Elecmon tightly as he watched his friends' partner fight Leomon and Ogremon.

So far Yumoto hadn't spotted the black gear he was sure there was on either of the two attacking digimon.

 _"Harpoon Vulcan!_ " The horn shot off Ikkakumon's head, and shot towards Ogremon, like a torpedo. Hitting the green digimon right in the chest and pushing him to the ground.

While Ikkakumon busied himself with Ogremon, Stingmon turned to Leomon. " _Moon shooter!_ " Stingmon yelled firing the spikes on his arm at Leomon.

"You can do it Worm-chan!"

Neither the children nor their digimon were aware of the red eyes focused on them. "They're strong." Devimon observed, watching Ankylomon and Kyubimon attack Leomon next. "Even after climbing this mountain and the chase Leomon gave them, they're fighting."

Perhaps attacking them all at once wasn't the right way to do this. Devimon nodded to himself, already formulating a plan. It would be much more fitting to kill all nine chosen children one by one when they were finally all in the same place for the first time.

Back on the ground the children still had the upper hand over Leomon and Ogremon when there suddenly was a loud cracking sound from above. Looking up, they saw that something had shook the mountain had enough to cause dozens of large rocks to fall down from the top.

Falling straight towards the group!

Gasping in fear, Io ducked his head and gripped his digivice. "Ankylomon!"

 _"Tail hammer!"_ Ankylomon swung his enormous, armored tail, getting it high enough for the iron sphere at the end of his tail to smash through several of falling rocks.

 _"Meteor wing!"_ Fireballs rained down from the air below Birdramon's wings, hot enough to evaporate the rest of the falling rocks.

Their attacks successfully turned the rocks into dust which fell down on the group in a cloud of dark smoke, which the children shielded their eyes from.

Chiyo was to first one to open her eyes when the smoke cleared. The girl cautiously peaked over the edge of the boulder, and grinned when there was no sign of Leomon or Ogremon. They must have used the confusion of the smoke cloud, to run away from them.

Her happy expression disappeared when she caught sight of their partners. "Renamon!" The girl cried, quickly climbing over the boulder and rushing to her fallen partner's side.

"Piyomon!"

"Gomamon!"

"Armadimon!"

"Worm-chan"

Yumoto stayed near the boulder, still hugging Elecmon while he watched his friends run to their partners. All their digimon had de-evolved and were laying on the ground, looking like they were asleep, but Yumoto already knew that when someone looked asleep after being hurt, it didn't always mean they _were_ asleep.

The eight-year-old sighed in relief when he heard the digimon groan tiredly. "They're okay." Yumoto breathed, hugging Elecmon just a little bit tighter.

"Hey..." En spoke quietly as he carefully lifted Gomamon up. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm okay..." Gomamon murmured, keeping his eyes closed. "Just really tired."

"That's my line." En tried to joke, but he couldn't keep the worry from his voice. Sighing, the boy sat down, and let Gomamon rest on his lap.

Atsushi had a sad look on his face when he picked Wormmon up. "You evolved twice today." He told the little, green digimon. "I'm really proud.."

"Thanks," Wormmon replied, too tired to nuzzle his head against Atsushi like he normally did. "Does that mean we can sleep for a bit now?"

"No.."

"Why?"

"It's not safe to stay on the mountain." Chiyo answered in Atsushi's place. "We'll be helpless if we get attacked again..." Even though she really wanted to give Renamon and the others a chance to regain their strength, it was too much of a risk. They'd be sitting ducks. "Let's go boys."

* * *

"The east wing?" Kinshirou echoed, a look of astonishment on his face. It wasn't like he didn't trust Devimon's words, just that it felt odd. Especially considering how the request didn't sound like a request at all. "Why?"

Devimon hadn't ordered them around like this before, at least... not until recently. Devimon's outburst at Akoya a few days ago had brought along a change in the dark digimon's treatment of them. He was... angrier than before.

"There is an infestation in the mansion." Devimon answered, speaking in a monotone again. "I'll take care of it tonight, but until then I want the three of you to stay in your rooms. Is that understood?" Devimon questioned, looking at each of the children.

"Yes Devimon-sama."

The fallen angel nodded stiffly before spreading his wings and becoming invisible. There was a brief gust of air and the boys and their partners assumed that meant Devimon had left the room.

"That was odd." Arima muttered once he was certain Devimon was away.

Akoya nodded. "Devimon's behavior is starting to match his looks."

"Ha!" Labramon perked up, letting out a small bark of laughter. "That's like a much nicer version of what I was thinking! Devimon was already looking like a big creep, but now he's a real jerk!"

"Labramon..." Arima chuckled at his partner's words. "Didn't we talk about saying things in your head first?"

"It's true!"

Kinshirou ignored his friends and stared at the spot Devimon had been standing at minutes ago. "Arima?" The white-haired boy asked, voice quiet. He didn't turn to the other boy. "Do you think it's this infestation that he mentioned that.. That has Devimon-sama acting the way he does?"

"I..." Arima doubted it, but he couldn't tell Kinshirou that. Not when he knew how much Devimon's devotion had meant to his friend. "I'm not sure."

* * *

The sun was setting as the six chosen children and their partners walked through the forest. A gloomy atmosphere had settled over them, not only had the revelation that they really were stuck on an island drained their spirits, but they kids were also worried for their partners and how exhausted the digimon still looked.

"It doesn't really make sense does it?" Io wondered out loud, while walking besides Armadimon. "Piyomon, Gomamon and Wormmon managed to evolve twice today, yet days ago Gomamon couldn't evolve to fight Seadramon."

"You're not wrong." En replied, patting Gomamon's flipper-like arm from where it was slumped over En's shoulder. It wasn't a pain to have Gomamon on top of his head like this, not when the little guy was so tired.

Gomamon yawned and mumbled something.

"What was that buddy?"

"Your... energy." Gomamon repeated, sleepily nuzzling his cheek against En's hair. "I felt it more this time."

"Really?"

"Maybe it's because Ryuu and En-chan used digi-soul the first time?" Atsushi suggested.

"Digi-soul..." Io sighed and patted Armadimon's head who also looked more tired than Io had seen his partner so far.

"Hmm... That's funny." Yumoto giggled loudly, for once the eight-year-old was at the head of the group

Chiyo blinked and turned away from her partner to glance at the small boy. "What is?"

"I thought that sharing energy with En-chan-senpai would make anymore more tired." Yumoto answered, grinning brightly. "Instead it made Gomamon stronger- Oh!" Red eyes widened and Yumoto looked at Elecmon. "I wonder what you'll turn into Elecmon! I have lots of energy to share!"

The other children all looked at Yumoto and Elecmon at that, all wondering the same thing. If Elecmon would evolve what would Yumoto's partner turn into.

"I'm not sure if that's really how it works." Io stated, grimacing as he looked at how excited Yumoto looked.

"It sounds legit." Ryuu replied, shrugging carelessly. "Just imagine though. ...Elecmon could become a cuddle monster."

"Nah uh!" Elecmon rapidly shook his head. His annoyed look got exchanged for a pleased one as he pondered what kind of digimon he'd evolve into. He wouldn't know what he turned into until it happened, but... hed be something strong right? Powerful enough to protect Yumoto. "Heromon... Strongest digimon ever."

"Super-heromon!" Yumoto added grinning, a bounce returning to his step.

"Unbeatable-mon!"

While Yumoto and his partner loudly discussed Elecmon's next form, the other kids' looked around. None of them had as much energy left Yumoto and Elecmon.  
"It would be nice if we spotted a cave soon..." Chiyo bit on her lower lip while looking around. Sun was setting and there was no lake or river in sight so there'd be no fish for dinner. And none of these trees were fruit trees either...

The girl glanced as her partner and mentally berated herself. Renamon's shoulders were hunched and she took small steps and her breaths came out in the form of small gasps, but despite her exhaustion Renamon looked alert. Sharp, blue eyes darting around from side to side, trying to find the same thing Chiyo was trying to find.

And she was failing too.

"Renamon, guys..." Chiyo stopped looking and waited for the boys to follow suit. "This isn't working, it's getting late." The girl sighed. "We won't find a food source tonight so maybe we should-"

"Guys!" Atsushi gasped, blushing when he realized he had interrupted Chiyo. "Guys.. Look!" He pointed at something he could just see from between the trees. "There's a mansion over there!"

Now that Atsushi has pointed it out, it seemed odd that they'd almost walked right past it.

"What are we waiting for?!" Ryuu grinned and tightened his hold on Piyomon. "There might be someone inside or food!" Without saying another word, Ryuu ran forward.

There weren't any humans in the trolley they had found.

They hadn't been able to call anyone with the phones they found on the beach.

There weren't any humans in the factory.

Io knew that the chance of there being any humans inside the mansion were very small. That it would be another odd thing in a series of...oddness. It was why Io slowed down when the others ran to the mansion as well.

"Io?" Armadimon paused and turned around when he noticed Io wasn't following after him anymore. "What's wrong?"

"There won't be humans inside."

"You don't know that."

"Yes," Io nodded solemnly. "I do."

Armadimon looked at Io, wondering what was going through his partner's head. In the end, the little monster shrugged. "At least it might be warmer inside."

"I suppose..." Io had to side with Armadimon on that, especially when another cool breeze ruffled his hair. "I wonder why we didn't see this place from on top of the mountain." He murmured finally walking over to his friends who were now gathered around the mansion's front door.

"It looks like a castle." Yumoto said, looking at the mansion. It had at least three floors, and the windows were so big! That balcony looked like a fun place to hide it when playing games. Smiling, the eight-year-old looked at Chiyo. "Can we go inside?"

"Hush now." Atsushi put a hand on Yumoto's shoulder to keep the boy at his side while Chiyo opened the door.

"Hello?" Chiyo called out, squinting to see anything in the dark room. "Sorry to barge in here like this." She said, entering the mansion and searching the wall for a light switch. "But we could really use an adult now."

Her words echoed right back at her and Chiyo closed her eyes in defeat. "There's no one here." She said turning to the boys.

"So?"

En walked past Chiyo and entered the mansion, Gomamon still lazily nuzzled on top of his head. The boy trailed his fingers over the green wall till he found the light switch and flicked it on.

The room looked even bigger with the lights on. They could see three sets of stairs leading to the next floors, and there were several large doors there too. One of largest doors on the wall on the left had a sign on it. En didn't bother reading it. If whoever owned this place wanted them to stay at side of the mansion, who was he to go against that? "I saw we stay here tonight."

Atsushi's eyes widened and he looked around. "En-chan? Are you sure?" The blue-haired boy paused and looked at the stairs, surely if someone was there they'd have showed themselves by now. "This is someone's home..."

"They'll understand that we needed a place to stay tonight." En replied, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding to himself. "It's not like we're going to find a better place than an actual house."

"That's true..."Chiyo agreed, glancing at their digimon which were already sitting on the floor, looking ready to fall asleep any minute.

"That's so pretty!" Yumoto suddenly cried out, pulling away from Atsushi's hold to run to the opposite wall so he could get a better look at a painting that hung from the wall. "It's an angel."

The painting looked so old, but that only made it prettier. The angel in the painting wore a long white dress and had her hands clasped together and was gazing lovingly into a light. She had big feathery wings which had to be really soft.

"Yumoto?" Elecmon said, moving to stand on his hind legs to get a better look at the painting. "What's an angel?"

Red eyes widening, Yumoto looked away from the painting and gazed at his partner. "An angel is... Like my mama and dad are now. They.. Angels are really nice beings filled with lots of love." Yumoto finished his explanation with a small smile on his face and sadness shining in his eyes.

There was more to it than that, Elecmon knew it and he wanted to ask if Yumoto could explain, but then he smelled it. "Oh.." Elecmon murmured sitting up and sniffing the air.

Smiling, Yumoto watched his partner. "What is it?"

"Food."

That got everyone's attention.

"And it's a feast!" Elecmon cried hurriedly getting to his feet. "It's this way! Follow me!" Elecmon shouted out, immediately taking off and running up the stairs.

Neither the digimon nor the kids hesitated in following Elecmon, none of them noticing how the mansion doors slowly slid shut once they were out of the room.

* * *

"...That's definitely food." En stated, holding onto Gomamon's tail to keep his partner from attacking the feast.

Elecmon had led them to a dining room where there was a huge buffet. Two long tables filled with various kinds of food. Fruits and vegetables, ones which the children recognized. But there was also a whole chicken and turkey, a large pan with fried rice, a ham, a pile of cheese, bread and several wine glasses filled with soda.

"It all looks so good..." Ryuu said, not taking his eyes of the food.

"Too good." Io replied, one hand on his growling stomach. The food didn't only look delicious. It smelled wonderful too. "It's a trap..."

"It is." Chiyo nodded.

"It's a trap." Atsushi agreed, eyes on the pan filled with a warm curry.

"Definitely a trap." En murmured tiredly rubbing his forehead.

"It's _**delicious**_!"

"Yumoto!"

Yumoto didn't bother being cautious about to food and had sat down at the table, eagerly stuffing his mouth full with rice. "So good!"

And if Yumoto was doing it then it must be okay. The digimon grinned and rushed to the table to eat the delicious feast.

"Guys..." Io tried to stop them, but... the food wasn't poisoned obviously and when his stomach growled again, his eyes narrowed and he stepped towards the table.

"I'm not sharing!"

"No fair!" Ryuu protested, pushing past En and Atsushi to get to the dinner table. "Save some for me too!"

En, Atsushi and Chiyo fell into a heavy silence, the only sound in the room came from their digimon's loud chewing, and Yumoto, Ryuu and Io's sounds of delight as they ate.

"I want some!"

"Hand me a plate, I'll have curry and rice!"

"Count me in!"

* * *

After dinner it was of course bath time and it so happened that there were steaming hot outdoor baths in the mansion's backyard. The two baths were separated by a bamboo wall, which was perfect. That way Chiyo, Renamon and Piyomon could use one bath, while the boys used the other one.

"I missed feeling clean." Ryuu said, letting out a content sigh as he sank lower into the warm water.

"Yeah..." En didn't bother opening his eyes. The eleven-year-old had a large grin on his face, and had his head nestled against his arms which were in turn pressed against stone wall. This was bliss. That water was wonderfully hot, the soft steam felt nice against his skin and it was so wonderfully quiet.

The only sound came from the crickets in the forest and of course from Yumoto.

"Wash, wash, wash." Yumoto sing-songed from where he was sitting on the floor, a towel draped over his waist. "You gotta be clean too." The boy told Elecmon as he scrubbed at his partner's red cheeks with a washcloth. "If you don't want to get in the bath then it's gonna be like this."

Chuckling Atsushi opened one eye and looked at Yumoto. "You're not supposed to put electric things in a bath."

"Elecmon isn't a thing- Oh..." Blinking in surprise, Yumoto let go of Elecmon who immediately squirmed away and ran back into the mansion. Figuring Elecmon probably wouldn't stay mad, Yumoto shrugged got up and joined his friends in the bath.

"I missed this..."

"Your family owns a bath house right?" Io asked, only briefly glancing at Yumoto.

"Yeah..." Yumoto's shoulders slumped and he lowered himself deeper into the bath, pulling his knees close to himself. "Kurotama hasn't been open in a while though."

"Why?"

When Yumoto didn't answer Io turned the younger boy and frowned. "Yumoto?"

"I miss my mom and dad.." Yumoto spoke quietly, pressing his forehead against his knees.

The others fell quiet, all of them looking at Yumoto and wondering what to say.

Swallowing, En reached for Yumoto and patted the small boy's shoulder. "Hey..." It was a shame that Elecmon had run back outside. Cuddling with his partner always seemed to make Yumoto feel better. "Don't worry," En said, squeezing Yumoto's bare shoulder. "We'll find a way home."

"They're not at home anymore either."

"What do you mean?" Ryuu asked, tilting his head and wondering if Yumoto's parents were like his.

Yumoto sniffled and rubbed at his left eye with the back of his hand, stubbornly trying not to cry in front of his new friends. "It was a rainy night and they went out for a drive and..." They never came back.

"Oh.." Atsushi's hand went up to cover his mouth. Yumoto's parents were- He had no idea, and judging by the way the boy spoke, they couldn't have died too long again. "I'm... really sorry Yumoto."

"So are they still missing then?"

"Gomamon..." En winced and lightly hit his partner's head. "That's not what Yumoto means."

"Boys?"

They looked up to see Chiyo standing near the door, already fully clothed, but with a towel wrapped around her head. The girl was wearing one of the many fluffy white robes they had found in the mansion, and was holding her shoes in her hands. "Are you ready to get out now? Renamon and I found a bedroom with enough beds for all of us."

"Turn around!" Four of the five boys protested, not wanting the female teen to see them.

Yumoto kept quiet and shrugged before getting out of the bath and walking over to Chiyo who handed him a towel.

* * *

It was late when the chosen children and their digimon finally fell asleep. It was only then that Devimon emerged from the shadows. He was in what his digimon lords had dubbed the control room. From there he could see each other chosen children on the monitors that hang from the wall.

"They all fell so easily." Devimon spoke, watching the six children and their digimon asleep in the large guest room. They had all been very excited at the prospect of sleeping in actual beds again. It was most pitiful really. "All of them." Devimon's red eyes landed on a different monitor, this one had the screen split in three and each screen showed one of the 'lords' asleep in their private bedroom. Like the other chosen children, the lords shared their beds with their partner digimon too.

In another life Devimon would have found it endearing, but Devimon hadn't allowed himself to think about his old life in years.

Now Akoya and Arima's friendship with their partners a sign of his failure to corrupt them.

There was Kinshirou at least, and one of those other boys also hadn't show signs of digi-soul yet. Ironically it were those two, but that didn't necessarily mean that he had stopped the prophecy. He wasn't going to risk it.

"This ends tonight." Devimon told Ogremon and Leomon who were obediently waiting for his orders. "Kill them all."

Devimon pale lips stretched into a grin when he saw that two of the children were awake. "Looks like we have our victims."

* * *

"We really shouldn't be here Kin-san." Pawnchessmon only just kept himself from stammering nervously. "Devimon said he didn't want us here."

Kinshirou ignored his partner and continued washing his hands. He knew what Devimon-sama said, but surely the lord would forgive him. The bathrooms were better and cleaner on the third floor on the wet side of the mansion.

So far he hadn't seen anything that could be considered an infestation. Devimon-sama had probably misjudged the situation. "Let's go back." Kinshirou said when he finished drying his hands.

They turned to the door and wear about to exit the bathroom when Pawnchessmon suddenly pulled Kinshirou backwards and placed himself between his partner and the door. "Someone's coming!"

"Pawnchessmon!" Kinshirou sighed irritably.

"It's not Arima or Akoya!" Pawnchessmon insisted, grabbing his spear and pointing it at the door. "Stay behind me!"

Kinshirou glared at his partner's back, but then he heard it too. Two voices, one which sounded vaguely familiar. "No... No way _that_ guy is here too!"

Yufuin had no place in their mansion! That someone like him was even allowed to be in the program to compete. No this wouldn't do. "Pawnchessmon we're going to get rid of the intruders." Kinshirou said, placing his hand on the doorknob. "Get ready to attack Yufuin."

However, before Kinshirou could open the door, Ogremon burst through the door of one of the bathroom stalls behind Kinshirou.

"Get ready to die chosen child!" Ogremon shouted, swinging his bone club at Kinshirou and Pawnchessmon.

* * *

"Why did you have to wake me up?" En grumbled, not bothering to stifle a yawn as he followed Gomamon through the dimly lit halls. "Can't you go to the bathroom by yourself?" En shivered and rubbed at his arms.

The mansion sure got colder at night.

"I couldn't leave you all alone." Gomamon replied, green eyes darting around nervously. Somehow the mansion felt a whole lot less inviting now that it was so much darker.

"You mean alone in the bedroom will all the others?"

"Right." Gomamon faced ahead again, refusing to admit that the darkness was bothering him.

En shook his head in mild amusement. "Have you even ever used an actual toilet before?" He asked once they stopped in front of the bathroom. En was about to open the door for Gomamon but before he could try to reach for the doorknob, the door got pushed open and Kinshirou and Pawnchessmon ran out of the room, bumping right into En and Gomamon knocking them over.

Stunned, En didn't even bother pushing the other boy off of him. "Kusatu?!" He finally said, still staring at Kinshirou. " _You're here_ too?!"

"Yufuin," Kinshirou spat, trying not to grunt as he pushed himself up. "How dare you break into my home!"

"Home? What the hell do you-"

"There's two of you here now," Ogremon laughed loudly and jumped out of bathroom. "That makes killing you much easier!"

"Ogremon!" Gomamon gasped, shoving Pawnchessmon off of him.

Gulping, En quickly pushed himself back to his feet and grabbed Kinshirou's wrist. "We gotta get out of here!" En cried, and started to run, dragging Kinshirou with him. Gomamon and Pawnchessmon hurrying after them.

Kinshirou's first instinct was pull his arm out of En's grip, but when Ogremon swung his club at them, Kinshirou swallowed and ran along with En. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"You seriously want me to explain?!" En panted, dragging Kinshirou around another corner. They had to go to the bedroom to warn the others damnit! "That's Ogremon and he wants us dead!"

"But I rule over-" Kinshriou stopped talking when he saw something move. A large digimon was approaching them.

Letting out a deep growl, Leomon stepped out of the shadows. He clenched his large fists when his eyes landed on En and Kinshirou. "Must kill the children."

"This one's here too." En murmured, letting go of Kinshirou's wrist. He reached for his digivice only to remember that it was still in his jacket on the bed.

"You all should have slept quietly. It would have made your last night easier." A new voice spoke.

Turning around, En gasped when he saw large digimon standing on a small pilar. It was a tall, skinny digimon whose entire body was covered in jet black cloth. It had long arms which it had crossed over his chest, fingers that turned into claws, huge leathery wings and two long horns on the sides of its' head.

A shiver ran down his spine, and Kinshirou quickly bowed his head to the large digimon. "Devimon-sama." He did not enjoy the feeling of Devimon's glare on him at all. Was the great digimon that upset that he hadn't stayed away from the east side? At least Devimon's appearance stopped Leomon and Ogremon from approaching.

"Devimon?" En echoed, wondering how Kinshirou knew such a scary looking digimon.

"Kinshirou," Devimon nodded in acknowledgement. "How fitting that you'd be one of the first to die." His lips stretched into a wide grin, showing off pointed teeth. "My most loyal follower."

All the color left Kinshirou's face, leaving the boy grey faced. "I... D-Devimon-sama?" It didn't make sense. Why was Devimon looking at him like that? He hadn't done anything wrong... had he? "Y-Yufuin broke into the mansion. Pawnchessmon and I planned to on stopping him."

"Did you now?" Devimon smiled and tilted his head, never taking his eyes of Kinshirou who was starting to squirm. "How pointless of you. But that's not surprising."

Devimon took one step forward, his shadow extended and loomed over the two boys. They were already trembling. How adorable. "The whole digimon lord plan turned out to be pointless as well."

Eyes widening, Kinshirou froze, jaw audibly clicking shut.

"Lords?" En asked looking at Kinshirou who remained stiff, staring at Devimon with wide, unblinking eyes. "Kusatsu, you're a-"

"He and the others were good digimon overlords." Devimon answered the unfinished question. "But I've decided that corruption just won't do."

"En..." Gomamon nervously shuffled closer to his partner. "We need to go. Devimon is the strongest digimon on the island."

Besides him, Pawnchessmon nodded. "Kin-san... W-we need to go." He nervously told Kinshirou, tugging at the boy's cold hand. "Please, Devimon betrayed us."

It was like Kinshirou didn't hear him.

The boy just kept staring ahead, thin shoulders trembling.

"It's time to stop this game." Devimon said. He spread his wings and the mansion and everything in and around it faded away. Disappearing like it was never there.

The only things that remained were crumbling ruins, broken walls and ten beds. Three beds were on the second floor, and five occupied beds were on the third floor.

Atsushi lay in one of the beds and turned around in his sleep. suddenly feeling very cold. The boy opened his eyes and searched for his blanket which he must have kicked off in his sleep, that's why it was so cold... Not because the room was gone.

Gasping, the boy sat up, and quickly looked around. How had their beds gotten outside? "What's going on?!" Atsushi cried, successfully waking the others who all had panicked reactions of their own.

"Renamon!" Chiyo cried, pulling her blanket closer around her. "What's going on?!"

Renamon put a hand on Chiyo's shoulder, ready to push her partner behind her in case an enemy attacked. She searched the ground for who could have destroyed the mansion. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted the one responsible for this. "It's Devimon!"

But the kids weren't looking at the tall, menacing digimon. They were looking at the other three boys.

"Is that Gero?" Ryuu asked no one in particular.

"Arima-senpai is here too!" Yumoto exclaimed leaning over the edge of the bed to look at the people on the second floor. "And he's got a fluffy partner!"

Akoya and Arima were less than thrilled with seeing their group from camp at their mansion.

"Why are there so many people here?!" Akoya screamed pulling the covers of his bed up to cover his head.

Arima didn't reply. He held onto Labramon and looked over at where Kinshirou was standing with En and Devimon. There were two large digimon with them, looking ready to attack and lord Devimon did not look pleased either. "This is bad..."

Atsushi wasn't focusing on the feeling of Wormmon shaking in fear against him. He was watched what was happening on the ground. Looking at the two kids standing among the large digimon. "En-chan!" The blue-haired-boy cried leaning forward, careful to not fall over the edge of the flying bed. "Kin-chan!"

Devimon heard the children's shocked cries and it only made him laugh. The devil-like digimon lifted his arms and aimed palms at the mansion, using his powers to lift the children's beds up in the air and made the beds fly around.

Their startled screams were like music to his ears. It didn't matter that he remembered what it was like to be in their position.

What mattered was that he'd keep history from repeating itself. It was better if the children died. No digimon would have to go through what he went through. This island was better under his command.

En stared up at the flying beds in horror. "Guys! Atsushi!" Kinshirou wasn't doing anything besides him and Devimon seemed to be having. En turned to his partner. "Gomamon, we gotta save them- Gomamon?"

Gomamon had his head bowed and face twisted in a pained grimace. "I h-have no energy!"

"You ate from the buffet too right?" En asked, he looked at Gomamon and then at the flying beds again. His friends were screaming and in danger and he didn't even have his digivice. It was still in his jacket which was on one of the two unoccupied flying beds.

Devimon chuckled when he heard En's question. "You assume I provided you with a finale supper. Not this time." Smirking, the fallen angel turned to Kinshirou. "You were right Kinshirou. I expected too much of humans."

This time Kinshirou did turn to him, and blinked rapidly. "W-why?"

"Why am I doing this?" Devimon clarified.

Kinshirou swallowed thickly and nodded.

"Because you're the chosen children." Devimon stated as if that explained everything. "And I cannot risk an old prophecy ruining this for me." Devimon raised his other arm and pointed his palm at the ground. "Me who controls all the black gears!" As he said those last words Infinity Mountain shook and cracks formed on the ground all over the island. Black gears shot out of the cracks and flew in every which direction.

The cracks spread and grew deeper. And deeper, until File Island began falling apart. Splitting up in ten pieces which began floating away from each other.

"This is... awful." Akoya whimpered, gripping the headboard of his bed. Trembling as his bed flew around in circles. The game wasn't supposed to be like this. The ten-year-old couldn't tear his eyes away from the part of the island closest below his bed. Part of the forest near the edge of the island was withering away before his eyes.

Lalamon nodded, pressing herself close to her partner. "I'm sorry..."

"Toy town..." Ryuu murmured, holding onto Piyomon and watching a familiar part of the island float by.

Further apart from Ryuu and Akoya, Io and Armadimon were gazing down at a familiar sight too. _'I wonder if Andromon is aware of what's happening_.' Io thought watching the part of the island with Andromon's factory drift further away.

"File Island is already mine!" Devimon loudly declared, pride lacing his deep voice. "Soon my power will reach the other side of the ocean!"

Slowly Kinshirou and En turned to face each other. "Other side of the island?"

"There's more to this world than this island?!" Kinshirou demanded, despite the quiver in his voice, the boy took a step forward.

"Kin-san!" Pawnchessmon gasped, latching onto Kinshirou's arm, trying to pull his partner back.

"You won't be seeing it." Devimon replied, not at all surprised by the boy's question. It matched with the lies he told his pawns. "This place will be your graves." And with that said Devimon nodded at Leomon who had remained motionless all this time.

Stoically, Leomon stepped towards En and Kinshirou whose partners tensed up in fright.

Swallowing nervously, Pawnchessmon let go of Kinshirou's arm and stepped forward, putting himself between the boys and Leomon. "I won't let you harm Kin-san!" Pawnchessmon cried, grabbing his spear and pointing the sharp tip at Leomon. " _Pawn lightning!"_

White lightning bolts shot out of Pawnchessmon's spear and hit Leomon right in the center of his torso.

It didn't slow the beast-man down at all. Leomon hissed, but kept walking. "Fist of the beast king!"

Pawnchessmon didn't even have the chance to avoid Leomon's energy blast, it hit him right between the eyes, and the little digimon went down.

Kinshirou watched his partner hit the ground with wide eyes, but he couldn't cry out his name. Only watch in horror as Leomon got closer. "P-Pawn..." His partner whimpered, so at least Pawnchessmon was alive.

Because that wasn't the sound dying people made.

Right?

"Stay back."

Kinshirou glanced at En and nodded stiffly. He could see the anger in Yufuin's eyes, it was the first time Kinshirou saw anything other than disinterest in the lazy boy's expression.

What made it worse was that Kinshirou deserved every bit of that frustrated look Yufuin was sending him. "I didn't mean for..."

"Save it for later." En hised, pulling Kinshirou another step backwards. "Crap!" The boy cursed, when his heel brushed against one of the remaining pieces of the mansion's broken walls.

There wasn't anywhere to back away to.

"I'll protect you!" Gomamon cried taking a step forward.

"Get back here!" En protested. "You can't beat this guy!" Not without evolving, and running wasn't an option anymore either. En swallowed, letting go of En's wrist and arm falling limply against his side. There wasn't anything they could do... "Gomamon-"

En couldn't call out to his partner. He didn't get the chance to.

Suddenly Leomon leaped forward, pushed Kinshirou to the ground and then grabbed En, one large paw wrapped tightly around the young boy's neck and roughly slamming En against the concrete wall behind him.

En choked, hands automatically going up to try and get Leomon's hand off his throat to no avail.

"EN!" Gomamon cried, the small digimon tried hitting Leomon's legs with his flippers, but it was like Leomon didn't feel his touch at all.

Shaking all over, Kinshirou pushed himself up into a sitting position. His breathing came out in small gasps as he watched Devimon choke En and- It didn't look like this when Yufuin had been caught by Shellmon.

Of course Kinshirou had only seen Shellmon's attack from a computer screen. Up close this was...

Terrifying. And very **real**.

Yufuin was really going to die.

All because of him. Kinshirou looked up, at the beds floating in the sky. Arima and Akoya where up there and looked scared too. The only reason they were even here was because he had told them he trusted Devimon.

This was all his fault.

Knees wobbling, Kinshirou got to his feet. "Pawnchessmon!"

"I'm r-ready!" Pawnchessmon called out, getting back to his feet.

"Ready for what?" Devimon questioned. "You can't honestly believe you're still capable of having pure digi-soul after all that you've done!"

Kinshirou's eyes widened, and he shook his head. There was nothing he could do, but if he didn't do anything then Yufuin would die and- Shaking his head Kinshirou took small step towards En and Leomon.

He was about to reach for his digivice which was strapped to his belt, but just before he touched it, a ray of light shot of the device's screen and shot straight into Leomon.

Leomon roared and immediately dropped En. The large digimon hurriedly took several steps backwards and tried to shield his eyes from the blinding light, but it was no use. Leomon doubled over, clutching his chest and crying out until a black shadow shot out of his back and evaporated in the light of the digivice.  
Only then did the light from the digivice go down.

When Leomon opened his eyes again they were back to being bright blue.

"It's gone..." Leomon grunted, reffering to the dark force which he no longer felt twisted around his heart. Taking a deep breath, Leomon turned to Kinshirou and En who were both staring at him. "So you're the chosen children."

En was on the ground, shoulders shaking with every deep cough he took. He calmed down slightly when Gomamon rubbed his back. "I g-guess." En answered, barely keeping his eyes open between coughs.

Devimon didn't wait for Leomon to get caught up and tell the children about the prophecy. Instead he returned his attention to the flying beds and aimed his palm at it again.

He'd sink them. Each and every one of them would end up deep under the sea. Devimon's hand glowed red and he used his powers to make the beds plummet down towards the ocean.

The kids and their partners screamed, holding onto their bed frames for dear life.

"Atsushi!" En and Kinshirou cried out, watching in horror as their friend fell to his death. "Guys!"

Hearing their screams Leomon quickly turned around "Fist of the beast king!" And fired his attack at the pillar Devimon was standing on, shattering it into pieces.  
Thinking quickly, Devimon spread his wings and flew into the air. He lost control over the beds which went back to floating calmly in the air.

"How dare you use such tricks on me?!" Leomon shouted waving his fist at Devimon who was only visible because the moon illuminated his silhouette. "You will regret this Devimon!"

A loud laugh coming from his right caught Leomon's attention, and he turned to it just in time to block Ogremon's bone club with his sword.

"Looks like our battle is destined one way or another."Ogremon grinned widely and swung his weapon again.

En, Gomamon, Kinshirou and Pawnchessmon weren't looking at Leomon and Ogremon's fight. They were looking at the floating beds in the sky which were now moving free from Devimon's well. All of them floated towards different parts of the broken island.

"Guys..." En said through gritted teeth, blue eyes stuck on the night sky. How was he supposed to get to all of them?! The island was broken and-  
"Chosen children!" Leomon suddenly called out gaining En and Kinshirou's attention. "Run! Leave this brute to me!"

Kinshirou shook his head. "There's no where left to-"

"Run!" Leomon ordered, he gripped his sword with both hands and stabbed it into the ground. A webbing of cracks spread around his swords and the cracks in the land spread towards the boys and crumbled and both boys and their digimon fell into the cold ocean.

"En!" Gomamon quickly swam towards his partner and helped En keep his head above water against the cold, harsh current.

A few meters away in the water Kinshirou wasn't having the same luck in the water. He was struggling to swim, while Pawnchessmon had to work hard to keep himself from sinking.

En took deep gasps, watching Leomon fight on the island. There was no sign of any floating beds in the sky anymore. "Guys!" The eleven-year-old child shuddered when he saw Devimon still in the air and dive towards Leomon. "Leomon!"

A wave hit him, and En and Gomamon fought to stay above water, but it was no use when a second wave hit them.

The last thing En heard before going under was Leomon's loud, agonized scream.


	8. Clash of the ice digimon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ice, snow and storms. Not a good combination, especially not for those who feel alone. Devimon scattered the children across the broken island and Kinshirou is left to think about the consequences of his actions.

Kinshirou sputtered, gasping for air. He had no idea how long he had been in the water, or how far the current had pushed him and Pawnchessmon. All Kinshirou knew was that the water was getting colder, or maybe that was only because it was getting harder to move his arms and legs. 

He was tired but he had to keep swimming. Kinshirou heard Pawnchessmon speak and grunt, but he couldn't make out words. He wanted to sleep.  

Whatever Pawnchessmon had said must have had to do with the large piece of wood Pawnchessmon shoved underneath Kinshirou's arms which helped him stay afloat.  

Panting, Kinshirou gripped the wood and rested his chin on top of it as well. 

"T-that should help." Pawnchessmon spoke, very much out of breath. The small digimon gripped the piece of wood for dear life.  

Kinshirou blinked and tiredly gazed at his partner, only now realizing how much harder being thrown into the ocean was for Pawnchessmon. His armor made him much heavier, and it was probably sheer luck that Pawnchessmon hadn't sunk to the bottom yet.  

"Kin-san!" Pawnchessmon called out. 

Kinshirou stared at the digimon and grunted, wishing he had the energy to speak instead of just making impolite sounds. He was just so... tired. His eyes felt heavy and it felt impossible to lift his head from the piece of wood. 

It was so cold, and.. Only getting colder the further away they drifted. 

"You have to hold on." Pawnchessmon insisted. "I can see land! We will be okay." 

Kinshirou didn't reply, it was hard enough to keep his eyes open. He blinked tiredly when something cold and white landing on his nose. _Snow?_  

* * *

 Devimon laughed deeply to himself as he watched the skies. There was no longer a sign of floating beds by now. They had all landed of different parts of the broken island. By now Devimon had used his abilities to turn his the remains of his mansion into a Greek style temple. 

It was what it had been before the chosen children arrived to the island. 

"Even if they're the chosen ones, they're helpless when separated." Devimon said in that monotone voice of his and got up. "I'll persecute them without mercy!" He shouted raising his arms high and sending eight black gears flying through the air. They'd find their nearest targets.

* * *

"We're gonna crash!"  

Chiyo screamed, clenching her eyes shut when her bed suddenly stopped floating and began crashing towards the icy land below. She felt Renamon tighten her grip around her moments before they landed. 

Chiyo and Renamon catapulted of the bed on impact and landed face first into the snow. 

Already shivering, Chiyo sat up hurriedly brushing the snow of her shoulders. "Cold!" She looked to her left in time to see Renamon sit up as well, shaking her head to get the snow out of her yellow fur.  

Her partner didn't look exactly look out of her element. And the way her nose twitched in the snow was very cute.  

"At least you've got your warm f-fur." 

Renamon looked at Chiyo, noticing her partner was still in a tank top and underwear. "And you need your clothes." Renamon said getting up and running to the now broken bed and grabbing Chiyo's folded clothes from it. "Here." 

"Thanks..." Chiyo grimaced when she felt her clothes already had layer of frost on them. It was still better than being in her underwear, so she got dressed. And immediately sat down on the ground again, shivering. 

"Chiyo?" 

"What happened tonight Renamon?" Chiyo wasn't sure of it at all. Everything that happened since they arrived on this island was crazy but tonight... Flying beds, a demon-like digimon, the island breaking and... "At least I now know what happened to those rich kids." Kinshirou, Arima and Akoya had been missing on the day they got on this island too... "And the others?" She looked at the sky, but there was no sign of floating beds anymore. 

"They must have landed too." Renamon concluded. "We should walk a bit or we'll freeze out here." 

"The others..." Letting out a sigh, Chiyo got back to her feet and looked around. They were on a small piece of frozen land. There was snow and ice everywhere and hill... there eight mailboxes lined up several feet away from them, but Chiyo didn't pay attention to them. "We have to get off this island and back to the others."  

The two girls started walking around the snow covered area, and went up a hill to get a better view of their surroundings. From there Chiyo and Renamon could see Infinity Mountain, getting further and further away.  

"The island pieces are floating away." Chiyo realized with a feeling of dread. It would be way harder to even get to the other parts of the islands, let alone finding Yumoto and the others. "Renamon can you evolve and swim in this water?" 

Renamon looked at the ocean and frowned. "As Kyubimon my fur is resistant enough for the icy water, but.. I don't think I'd be able to evolve." 

"What?" Chiyo blinked in surprise and grabbed her digivice. "But I've got digisoul... right?" She still wasn't sure what that even meant, but the girl was already getting used to tapping into that ability. 

Renamon touched her stomach and sighed. "I don't have the energy..."  

As if on cue Chiyo's own stomach growled. Frowning Chiyo looked at Infinity Mountain again, they'd already drifted further away from the main island. "The mansion was an illusion... so all the food was fake too." 

Chiyo looked around, but there weren't any trees in this frozen waist and. Nowhere to find food for Renamon. "What are we going to-" 

The ground shook behind them and the pair turned around to see a three meter tall snowman rise up from underneath the snow. It had three red buttons on it's big round belly and its' head was shaped like that of a a cat. The digimon's small eyes were glowing in a dark shade of red. 

"Yukidarumon!" The snowman cried, forming a huge snowball with its' strong arms and rising it high, read to throw it at the two girls. 

* * *

 **Digimon analyzer**    
_Yukidarumon, a freezing digimon whose body is made of icy snow. Its'_ _strong attack, absolute-zero_ _punch, can freeze anything!_  

* * *

"A snowman?!" Chiyo gasped when Yukidarumon throw the large snowball, she and Renamon both tried to duck out of the way which resulted into them both sliding down the hill and luckily for them, to continue sliding over the snow and past Yukidarumon. 

"It's Yukidarumon!" Renamon gasped, rolling onto her back so she could see the hostile digimon. "I don't understand, Yukidarumon are supposed to be nurturing." 

"Nurturing?" Chiyo grunted, rolling around right before Yukidarumon turned around as well. Chiyo and Renamon had already seen it though. 

A black gear lodged inside the ice digimon's back. 

"She's being controlled!" Renamon and Chiyo cried as Yukidarumon swung her fist at them.  

" _Absolute zero punch!"_ Yukidarumon cried, swinging her fist at Chiyo who ducked out of the way just in time.  

Yukidarumon's fist hit the mailbox behind Chiyo. Ice spread around the box, freezing it over in a matter of seconds.  

"Renamon!" 

"On it!" Renamon stepped forward and spread her arms. " _Diamond Storm!_ " A barrage of sharp leaves shot out of Renamon's body and flew towards Yukidarumon. 

Only to end up stuck in snowman's body. 

 "Oh this is bad..." Chiyo shivered and backed away from Yukidarumon who swung her fists at her and Renamon again. "You need to get close to the gear." 

"How?!"  

"Get behind her and attack." Chiyo nodded and turned to face Yukidarumon. "Oh frosty!"  The dark-haired girl called out. Chiyo shivered when the snowman-digimon started walking towards her again. "You're going to have to catch me first big girl!" And with that said Chiyo started to run. 

Yukidarumon's size and weight made it hard for her to keep up with the human. Unfortunately for Chiyo, Yukidarumon had the advantage of being made for this environment. 

It didn't take long for Chiyo to slip on the ice and fall to the ground. Gasping Chiyo turned around, blue eyes widening when she saw Yukidarumon stop in front of her and raise her arms ready to attack. " _Absolute zero pun-_ " 

" _Diamond storm!_ "  

Renamon had understood Chiyo's intention and was standing just one step behind Yukidarumon. The sharp leaves flew out of the yellow's fox's body and all of them hit the black gear inside's Yukidarumon's back, causing it to shatter. 

Yukidarumon's glowing red eyes slowly turned into a calm black color and the ice digimon slumped forward. 

"Renamon..." Chiyo swallowed, her mouth felt dry. 

"Are you alright?!" Renamon cried rushing to her partner's side and helping her sit up. "That was too close!" 

"Yeah." Chiyo nodded, she stood stiffly for a moment before throwing herself at her partner, much to Renamon's surprise. "Thanks!" 

"You're welcome." Renamon smiled and patted Chiyo's back. "You did it too you know?" 

"I did?" Chiyo pulled back, mouth forming a small O when she realized Renamon was right. If she hadn't distracted Yukidarumon and got her in the best position for Renamon's attack, then Renamon wouldn’t have been able to destroy the black gear. "We did it!" Chiyo let out a small laugh, the last of her adrenaline leaving her.  

She and Renamon turned around when Yukidarumon let out a soft groan. 

The ice digimon was looking at her large hands, and frowning deeply in confusing. "Why... Why was I chasing you?" She questioned, her eyes landing on Chiyo and Renamon. 

"Devimon was controlling you..." Chiyo answered, pausing to look Yukidarumon over again. Without the glowing red eyes, the snowman looked very friendly and her soft voice definitely conveyed sweetness. "There was a black gear stuck inside your back. We destroyed it." 

Yukidarumon blinked, slowly processing the information. "You freed me." She realized. "Thank you so much human and Renamon." Yukidramon said briefly bowing her head. She looked up and covered the area where her mouth should be with her hands. "I didn't hurt you did I?"   

"We're alright." Renamon nodded her head. 

"I'm glad." Yukidarumon sounded like she was smiling, the emotion definitely reached her eyes. Chiyo decided she liked that sparkle in the digimon's black eyes. "Oh..." Yukidarumon looked at Chiyo again and tilted her head. "That's funny." 

"What is?" 

"You're the second human I see today. Which is special because I've never seen humans before today." 

"Another human?!" Chiyo gasped and stepped forward, getting closer to Yukidarumon. Was it Yumoto? Oh god she definitely didn't want the eight-year-old to have ended up in such a freezing place as this. Hell this was no place for any of the kids. "Where?!"  

Yukidarumon didn't seem bothered by the demand and pointed at something over Chiyo's head. "They went to that island."  

Chiyo and Renamon looked at what the larger digimon was pointing at, and their shoulders slumped. 

"Now don't make that sad face." Yukidarumon spoke up, her voice soft. "What's wrong?" 

"There's no way we can get to that island." Renamon explained, not turning around. "I don't have the energy to evolve." 

Nodding Yukidarumon started walking forward. She walked to the edge of the small land and raised her fist. " _Absolute zero punch!"_ The snowman-digimon cried hitting the ocean with her fist, freezing four meters of the water in front of her. She turned around and nodded in Chiyo and Renamon's direction. "Since you've freed me, I'll help you get to the next island." She told them. 

Chiyo grinned and rushed over to Yukidarumon, hesitating before stepping on the road of ice on the ocean. It was slippery. "Thank you so much Yukidarumon!" 

"If I keep punching the ocean, we'll reach the island soon enough." Yukidarumon replied, lightly stomping on the ice with her foot. "Let's get going girls." 

* * *

It had started storming shortly after he woke up. That hadn't stopped Kinshirou from getting up and stumbling through the snow. He still hadn't stopped shivering, and his teeth were clattering, but Kinshirou kept on walking, despite Pawnchessmon's protest. 

"Arima!" Kinshirou called out, looking around. "Akoya!" It was impossible to see clearly in this snow storm. Everything just looked white. It was hard enough to see Pawnchessmon and he was standing right next to him!  

So far all he'd seen on this stupid island were pine trees and snow. 

"Kin-san!" Pawnchessmon protested. "Please stop..." The digimon pleaded, holding onto Kinshirou's arm. "It's freezing!" 

Kinshirou groaned weakly and pulled his arm free from Pawnchessmon's grip. "Akoya! Ibushi!" He called out, wildly looking around looking for a sign of the other two. This was all his fault. It was him who got them into this. 

He trusted Devimon. 

Told him about Arima and Akoya.  

So if they had gotten hurt when Devimon made the beds float and scattered them across the islands, then it was all his fault! 

"Arima! Ako-" Kinshirou stopped talking, a series of cough wrecking through his short body. It hurt. His throat hurt, his toes hurt and the wind felt like it was filled with small razors which were attacking his skin. "A-Akoya! Arima...." The corners of his vision was turning black. 

Kinshirou tried to call out again, but his jaw wouldn't move, neither would his legs. It was scary. Especially when the world seemed to tity and break into shards. The world turned black for a moment and the next thing Kinshirou was laying face first in the snow and Pawnchessmon was screaming. 

"Kin-san! Kin-san!"  

Kinshirou groaned weakly but didn't reply, keeping his eyes closed. 

Feeling his heartbeat frantically in his chest, Pawnchessmon looked around. They couldn't stay out in the cold like that. Especially with Kin-san in this condition. His human wouldn't survive!  

Finally Pawnchessmon spotted a cave several feet away, carefully hidden behind three pine trees. "Kin-san! There's a cave, we should stay in there!" 

Somehow those words got Kinshirou to open his eyes and sit up. His brat came out in small gasps, but the child didn't want to focus on his own discomfort. "C-cave.." Kinshirou stuttered having a hard time focusing. "They're there." He murmured and started walking. 

Arima and Akoya weren't idiots, they'd know to search for a shelter. If they were on this part of the broken island, than they had to be in that cave. 

"Kin-san..." Pawnchessmon stayed right behind his partner, ready to steady his partner in case Kinshirou fell again. 

It took fifteen minutes for them to reach the cave and once they entered it. 

It was dark and empty.  

Kinshirou stared into the darkness, which almost felt familiar. Not like the darkness in the work room and Devimon's mansion- Illusion. A different kind of darkness. 

He didn't notice Pawnchessmon gathering twigs and fallen tree branches and piling them up at the back of the cave. Not until Pawnchessmon called his attack name and sent lightning bolts onto the branches, starting a small campfire. 

Kinshirou slowly turned around, it hurt to move. "What are you doing?" 

"Setting up a fire."  

Clearly Pawnchessmon didn't understand the question. "Why? We're not staying here." 

"You're getting sick." Pawnchessmon said in a matter of fact-like tone. "You need to rest Kin-san." 

Kinshirou shook his head and glared at his partner. "We can't. We need to find-" 

"I'll go look!"  

"W-what?"  

"I'll go look in your place." Pawnchessmon repeated in a calmer tone, face turned to Kinshirou. "So please stay here and rest." 

For a few seconds Kinshirou stared at Pawnchessmon, not understanding what his partner meant. Pawnchessmon wasn't strong or clever, he'd surely get lost in the storm. "You can't do it." 

"Let me try...." Pawnchessmon pleaded. "You need to warm up. It's a bad idea to go out there when sick." 

Even in his sick state Kinshirou saw the logic in the small digimon's words. So he slowly nodded his head. "Alright," the boy sighed in defeat and slowly sank down to the floor. "B-be sure to return in two hours." Kinshirou murmured as he lay down near the fire. "There is n-no point in you g-getting lost as well."  

Pawnchessmon didn't try to fool himself. Kin-san probably wasn't concerned for his well-being. He was just being smart and didn't want to lose another alley. "Get some rest Kin-san..." 

* * *

It was not a welcome sight that greeted Chiyo when they finally reached the island. "It's even colder here!" Chiyo cried, rubbing her arms in an attempt to stay warm. She shivered and looked around. It was impossible to see much of anything in this storm. 

"We can't stay out here." Renamon stated, walking closer to her partner so their bodies brushed against each other.  

"Thanks." Chiyo replied, letting out a sigh of relief when she felt the warmth of Renamon's fur on her skin. 

"This won't do." Yukidarumon said as she looked around in the snow. "You two better wait for the storm to pass before you start looking for your friends." She told Chiyo and Renamon. "I know a good place for you two, it's a safe shelter." 

Chewing on her lower lip Chiyo looked around. "Yumoto and the others..." 

"If any of our friends are here then they're probably hiding from the storm too." Renamon told Chiyo. 

Letting out a sigh Chiyo nodded. "You're right." 

"It's easy to get lost in a snowstorm." Yukidramon informed them. "It's best if we hold hands." 

Chiyo was about to take Yukidramon's hands, but Renamon beat her to it. Chiyo understood why her partner did that when she saw Renamon's ears twitch in discomfort. Of course holding a hand made of snow for too long couldn't be pleasant. 

Smiling a grateful smile the fourteen-year-old took her partner's other hand. "Let's go." 

They walked over the snow island for fifteen minutes, the harsh wind biting and cold. Chiyo was sure that the landscape was playing tricks on her mind. Something was moving in the snow.  

It was too small to be one of the boys. It had to be a digimon. Or a snowball... One that was slowly approaching them. 

The digimon didn't become recognizable until it was only a few meters away from them. 

"You!" Chiyo cried, tensing up when she remembered the digimon from earlier that night. The digimon that had been at Kinshirou's side when he and En were attacked by Leomon. 

"Pawnchessmon!" Renamon's fur bristled.  

* * *

 **Digimon analyzer:**    
_Pawnchessmon, a puppet digimon who looks like a piece from a_ _chess game_ _. It's a weak digimon with a mysterious power_ _within. It's special move is pawn lightning and it's a master with_ _its'_ _spear._  

* * *

Pawnchessmon didn't bother materializing his spear. He knew he was no match for a Renamon. Instead he looked at Renamon and Yukidarumon fearfully. "Wrong human..." The digimon murmured quietly. 

"Wait.." Chiyo stepped forward, not letting go of Renamon's hand. "Kinshirou is here isn't he?" She asked, kneeling down to look at the digmon's face. 

"I... can't tell." 

"That means yes." Renamon concluded tonelessly. 

Chiyo nodded, a deep frown on her face. She wasn't happy with Kusatsu, Arima and Gero at the moment, but that didn't mean she wanted the eleven-year-old stuck here in the cold. She looked at Pawnchessmon again. "Can you tell me where he is?" 

Pawnchessmon stared at Chiyo wondering if he should be attacking her like what Kinshirou would want. Kinshirou and the others weren't lords anymore, and thinking of Kinshirou shivering and coughing in that cave... The little digimon couldn't take it anymore. "Please help! Kin-san is sick!"  

"Wha- Show me!" 

Pawnchessmon led them to the cave, which also happened to be the shelter Yukidramon had been taking them to. Once there Chiyo and Pawnchessmon rushed to Kinshirou's side, who by now laid curled up next to the fire fast asleep. 

Not wanting her presence to make the cave colder, Yukidarumon stayed outside. 

"How is he?" Pawnchessmon asked worriedly. He stood besides Kinshirou, watching Chiyo examine his partner. "Kin-san will be okay, won't he?" 

"Of course!" Chiyo answered without thinking about it. She couldn't say no when that little go sounded so scared. Kinshirou wasn't allowed to not be okay. He had to survive... Cringing, Chiyo put her hand on the kid's forehead. 

"Chiyo?" 

"No fever." Chiyo told Renamon, a deep frown on her face. 

"That's a good thing, right?" Renamon questioned. 

Chiyo wanted to say, but right noq the fourteen-year-old wasn't sure. "He's freezing..." 

Swallowing nervously, Pawnchessmon sat down on the ground next Kinshirou. "You're going to be alright Kin-san.." The small digimon murmured gently patting Kinshirou's arm. "You just have to..."  

Yukidarumon looked into the cave, not liking the heavy atmosphere. "I think I may know some herbs that could help your friend feel better if he's sick."  

"You do..." Chiyo looked away from Kinshirou to look at the larger digimon. Well Kusatsu did like tea.. And it wasn't like they had real medicine here. "Is it far?"  

"Not at all dear." Yukidarumon waved her hand in a dismissive way. "You three stay here and I'll get it for you. I'll be back in a few hours." 

"Thank you..." Chiyo smiled and watched the digimon leave. 

"Chiyo." Renamon called out gaining her partner's attention. "It's late." Technically it was early in the morning, but that didn't matter. Not when they hadn't gotten any sleep at all. "You should rest." 

Chiyo wanted to argue, but she _was_ tired and it wasn't like there was anything she could do for Kinshirou or the others right now. Sighing the girl sat down near the fire. "Maybe... I'll just close my eyes for a few minutes..." 

Renamon didn't say anything and just watched her partner as she fell asleep. A calm silence settled into cave. Renamon chose to ignore Pawnchessmon. She wanted to know about the digimon lords, but she was already sure that it had been Devimon pulling the strings all along. 

The question was, _why?_ What did Devimon want with three kids? The digimon has said something about corruption, but it still didn't make sense. 

Renamon's plan of ignoring Pawnchessmon became increasingly harder when she felt the smaller digimon's gaze on her. She tried to ignore it, look the other way, but after almost ten minutes, she had enough. "What is it?" She demanded, finally turning to Pawnchessmon. 

"Your... y-you have fur..." Pawnchessmon stammered, nervously toying with his fingers. "A-and it looks really warm..." The pawn-piece looked at Renamon and then at Kinshirou again before bowing his head. 

Perhaps Kin-san was right and he really was useless as a partner. He couldn't even provide warmth when Kinshirou needed it most.  

Renamon followed Pawnchessmon's gaze and understood, not just what Pawnchessmon wanted to ask, but also why he had stuck with Devimon and the 'digimon lords'. "It's alright," She said getting up and walking over to Kinshirou. She lay down close to the white-haired boy, wrapping her arms loosely around the child. "I'll keep your partner warm for you." 

"Thank you..." Pawnchessmon replied, keeping his head bowed and his attention on his sleeping partner. 

* * *

 _"Just a little closer, you're almost there._ _" The deep voice called out again. "You want to find this."_  

 _By_ _now Kinshirou had stopped paying attention to his surroundings. The voice had suddenly called to him and for some reason Kinshirou felt like he couldn't ignore it. So he snuck away from the camping site and went into the_ _for_ _est_ _._  

 _"Yes Kinshirou, this way."_  

 _Kinshirou had tried asking the voice what was going on several times, he stopped bothering at_ _this point._  

 _"You want to see this." The voice continued. "You want this_ _..."_  

 _"Want what?"_  

 _There was no answer. In fact the deep voice stopped calling out to him. It felt eerie_ _quiet_ _around him. No_ _chirp_ _ing_ _birds or sounds from insects at all._ _Only that voice which had stopped talking now. Despite that Kinshirou kept on walking._  

 _Not because of the voice, but because of a feeling. The boy felt that he needed to get there. Something important was calling to him._  

 _Kinshirou stopped at the lake. At least it was supposed to be the lake. They had gone there to swim twice now. But right now it looked bigger than yesterday. Like an ocean. Kinshirou didn't remember there being beach either. Perhaps he had misjudged and hadn't been walking in the direction of lake after all._  

 _"You made it young lord."_  

 _Frowning Kinshirou looked around. There still wasn't a person in sight. "Where are you?"_  

 _"Here, just get closer."_  

 _Slowly Kinshirou stepped closer to the ocean. Very slowly. The eleven-year-old was only now realizing how dark it had suddenly got around him. And.. How scary it was if that voice really came from_ _the ocean._ _If this was a prank the_ _n... he'd have reason to let his parents come pick him up from camp. And with that thought in mind Kinshirou looked into the ocean._  

 _Kinshirou didn't know what he was expecting when he looked into the ocean, but a pair of_ _glowing red eyes staring back at him wasn't it. Gasping, Kinshirou jumped back in fright._  

 _"You can see me." The voice sounded very pleased by that. "Means I reached you, and can invite you."_  

 _Swallowing nervously Kinshirou crept closer to grey ocean. "I-invite me?" Shaking his head the boy tried to compose himself. "Who are you?"_  

 _"My name is Devimon. And I am here to offer you greatness."_  

 _Green eyes widened and Kinshirou knelt down to look deeper into the ocean_ _._ _"Greatness?"_  

 _"You know this is not for you. This place... you don't belong with the commoners."_  

 _It was true. Kinshirou had voiced his opinion to two other kids at camp. The only ones who'd understand. Kinshirou wanted to go home after the first three days of camp, but he couldn't call his parents to pick him up. Not after he had expressed how much fun he'd have going to camp with his best friend At-chan._  

 _But then Atsushi befriended the other kids, who were loud or messy or_ lazy _. And the activities they did at camp involved meaningless things that hardly_ _re_ _quired_ _discipline_ _._  

 _"I can take you somewhere better." The voice continued. "Somewhere where you could rule and win."_  

 _"Rule and w_ _in?" Kinshirou echoed again._  

 _"Yes... A world you can make perfect."_  

 _A world he could shape and make perfect. It sounded... amazing. "A world with only deserving people."_  

 _"You could make it happen Kinshirou." The deep, monotone voice stated. "That's why I'm inviting you. Come find me."_  

 _This seemed ridiculous and... childish, but Kinshirou couldn't deny how amazing it sounded as well._ _"Inside the ocean?"_  

 _"To my world." Devimon answered, and the imagine in the ocean changed. It no longer displayed Devimon's red eyes. Instead it showed odd colored trees, mountains. Snow covered regions and desserts. It showed happy flying monsters, and large_ _dinosaur_ _s or dragons. Furry_ _creature_ _s_ _or squishy ones._  

 _Kinshirou couldn't take his eyes away from the strange new world he was being shown._  

 _"But," the image of the digiworld faded away and Devimon's eyes showed again. "No one can rule alone, which is why I allow you to bring help."_  

 _The first person who came to Kinshirou's mind was Atsushi, but then he remembered how the other boy had chosen to go kayaking with Yufuin instead of staying on shore with him. No... Perhaps it was best to_ ** _show_** _Atsushi how great he could be, instead of letting Atsushi help._  

 _Instead he thought of the new boys he had spoken to. "I know who will be able to rule this world."_  

 _"Good." Devimon sounded pleased again. "Now you must know, only a select few may enter the digital world. Put your hand in the water and we'll see if you're worthy."_  

 _Without thinking about the request_ _Kinshirou_ _put his hands in the water which didn't feel warm or cold, it was just... there._  

 _The water in his hands glowed a brilliant white light and when the light faded there was a small device in_ _Kinshirou's_ _hand._  

 _"Excellent!"_ _Devimon_ _laughed in delight. "The digital world chose you. Return to me with your friends and if they are worthy as well, the gate to my world will open!"_  

- 

Kinshirou woke with a start, gasping and green eyes opening wide. He couldn't move, at least not freely. Something warm and.. Alive, was holding him. The boy could see fury yellow arms wrapped around him, and with a feeling of dread, Kinshirou looked up. Kinshirou stiffened when he recognized Renamon. 

He'd seen Chiyo's partner on screen plenty of times, but she hadn't looked so big until now, when she was far too close. Kinshirou remembered  her attacks and what Renamon could evolve to. 

Looking around, Kinshirou spotted Chiyo near the wall half asleep. Good, that means she hadn't noticed him being awake yet. Maybe he could just leave without anyone noticing. However the moment Kinshirou shifted, Pawnchessmon woke up from where he was dozing. 

The little digimon immediately sat up. "Kin-san! You're alright!" 

Pawnchessmon's shout woke both Chiyo and Renamon, and Kinshirou gasped when Renamon's arms tightened around him. "Release me!" 

"Kinshirou... what?" Chiyo groaned softly and rubbed her eyes, the sleepy look remained on her face. "Ah good, you're awake." She said when her eyes focused on Kinshirou. The teen sat up and crossed her arms over her. "You have some explaining to do." 

Kinshirou met her gaze and tried to hold it, but after nearly two minutes he tore his eyes away and began to squirm. "You're holding me captive." 

"We are not." Chiyo rolled her eyes and glared at the boy.  

Realizing what had the human think like that Renamon released her hold on the boy and pulled away.  

Kinshirou sat up, and put his hands on the ground. His body was still tense and his shoulders were hunched forward. "I have nothing to tell you." Kinshirou stated, suddenly finding his hands very interesting. 

"Nice try kid." Chiyo wasn't impressed by that answer. "Who is Devimon? How did you Akoya and Ibushi get here? And what was with the lord stuff?!"  

Kinshirou didn't reply. He stubbornly glared at the ground. He didn't even fully here her. He was still thinking about what happened. What Devimon had said... he'd been about to kill him. It was all a lie. The greatness, the praises... 

Devimon-sama had used them and- All those digimon they had controlled... weren't part of a game. They had hurt so many monsters.. And nearly killed At-chan and the others. That thought alone made Kinshirou's eyes sting, and he clenched his eyes shut, refusing to cry in front of Chiyo. 

"Kin-san.." Pawnchessmon shifted so he was closer to his partner and gently stroked Kinshirou's arm. "Chiyo and Renamon helped us, I think we can explain right?" 

A small gasp left Kinshirou's still blue tinted lips. Pawnchessmon had found Chiyo and Renamon and.. Placated them. Part of him felt betrayed that his partner had gotten people who had all the right to hate them here, but another part of Kinshirou felt impressed that Pawnchessmon had found shelter and found help, all on his own. 

Perhaps it wasn't Pawnchessmon who was the useless one in their partnership... 

Kinshirou thought back to what Devimon had said before he tried to kill him. About digisoul and Devimon's plans for the rest of this world. About corrupting them. Swallowing Kinshirou took a deep breath before suddenly bolting upwards and running out of the cave. 

"What the- Kinshirou!" Chiyo scrambled to her feet and ran after the boy. Renamon and Pawnchessmon rushed after their partners. 

The snow storm had stopped, which made it much easier to be outside their shelter, but the deep layer of snow which covered the area made running a very difficult task. 

Kinshirou ran, ignoring how his chest burned and how the cold bit into his skin he had to find Akoya and Arima, make right what he had done. And once he'd done that he'd find Devimon and make him pay.  

He had to make up for it.  

"Come back here you!" Chiyo panted, chasing after the boy. "We're not done! And- you're not going alone!" 

Kinshirou didn't hear her. He was wildly looking around, yet he didn't fully focus on his surroundings. "Arima! Akoya! Can you hear me?!" If they were hurt then it was all his fault. If At-chan or even... even Yufuin.. Devimon had _really_ tried to hurt the older boy. Kinshirou swallowed thickly and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Ibushi! Akoya! At-chan!"  

"Kin-san stop!"  

But Kinshirou kept on running, he hardly noticed he was approaching a cliff, he didn't even notice Chiyo gaining up on him until she was suddenly right behind him and tackled him the ground. 

"Will you just t-talk to me!" Chiyo panted, gripping the eleven-year-old's legs afraid he'd bolt away again the moment she loosened her grip. "We'll find your friends and the others, but I want to know how you-" The teen stopped talking when she heard a soft sound coming from Kinshirou. A sound that sounded suspiciously like a sob.  

Pausing, Chiyo let go of Kinshirou, still sitting on top of his legs. She pushed the boy's side till he rolled onto his back. "Oh..."  Chiyo's blue eyes widened when she saw the tears streaming down Kinshirou's face.  

"I-it's all my fault they're stuck h-here." Kinshirou choked out. "D-Devimon-sama said we'd be great and... This is all my fault." 

"That's not true!"  

Both Chiyo and Kinshirou were surprised by the conviction in Pawnchessmon's voice. They were silent as they watched their partners approached. 

"That's not true..." Pawnchessmon repeated. "Devimon used you and the others! You didn't mean to hurt anyone."  

Kinshirou sniffled and gazed at his partner. "Pawnchessmon... We-" 

A loud shriek interrupted Kinshirou, and all four of them turned around to see a fat, furry digimon that resembled a yeti, running towards them. The only parts of the digimon that wasn't covered in thick white fur were the digimon's large feet and his hands. In one of his wide hands, the digimon was gripping a large bone that had to be from another digimon. 

"It's Mojyamon!" Pawnchessmon gasped stepping closer towards Kinshirou who quickly say up, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.  

"He's being controlled." Kinshirou stated when he saw the black gear sticking out of the digimon's fat belly. 

* * *

 **Digimon analyzer:**    
_Mojyamon, a rare animal digimon who is said to live deep in the snowy mountains. Normally he has a quiet personality and wouldn't initiate battle._  

* * *

Letting out another loud shriek Mojyamon leaped up and gripped the bone in his large hands. " _Icicl_ _e_ _rod_ _!_ " The digimon cried out, hitting the ground with the large bone he was holding. Hitting the ground hard enough to make it shake. 

"No, no!" Renamon put herself in front of the kids and clenched her fists. "Diamond Sto-" The fox faltered, hands going to her stomach when it growled loudly and painfully. She hadn't eaten since breakfast, _yesterday's_ breakfast, and her fight with Yukidarumon had used up more of her energy than she had realized. "Chiyo!"  

"We can try digisoul again.." Chiyo cried, hurriedly getting to her feet. The girl reached into her pocket, but before she could grab her digivice Mojyamon leaped up again. 

" _Ice cloud!_ " Mojyamon cried, making sure to land on the ground as hard as possible.  

The ground shook and part of the cliff start falling apart, taking Chiyo, Renamon, Pawnchessmon and Kinshirou along with it. 

The two kids and digimon screamed in fear as they fell. There was no snow at the both of the cliff. Just a dirt path and plants. Kinshirou closed his eyes ready for it all to be over. 

But it didn't happen. 

Instead they landed on something cold and bounced of it before landing on the ground.  

"Ouch.." Chiyo pushed herself back up and rubbed her behind. 

"Goodness! How did you end up falling from so high up?" 

She knew that voice. Opening her eyes she smiled when she saw what had saved them from a harsh meeting with the dirt. "Yukidarumon!" 

"Hello again." Yukidarumon responded while rubbing her back where the kids and their partners had landed on. Wincing the digimon straightened her back. "I found herbs for your friend, and some vegetables us all." 

"Yukidarumon, you're amazing." Chiyo grinned and took one of the purple roots from the snowman and handed it to Renamon. "Eat and get ready, Mojyamon can be here any second." 

Kinshirou remained quiet, watching Chiyo and Renamon hurriedly eat their vegetables. Noticing Pawnchessmon looking at him Kinshirou nodded, letting his partner it was okay to eat. Yukidarumon had gotten this food for them after all.  

He turned to Yukidarumon when she stepped towards him, body stiff. He expected to be scolded. Yelled at by a digimon who had been harmed because of him. Instead Yukidarumon held out her hand and offered Kinshirou a small plant. 

"Here you go dear," Yukidarumon spoke in a friendly tone, and smiled. "These herbs should help make you feel better. You gotta hold them close to your nose for a while." 

With a bit of hesitation, Kinshirou took the herbs for her and briefly held them to his nose. They smelled bitter, but not bad. "I... Thank you ma'am." He said looking at Yukidarumon again.  

Smiling Yukidarumon petted Kinshirou's head. "It's alright, I hope you'll feel better soon." 

Feeling his cheeks heat up Kinshirou nodded and bowed his head. 

By now Renamon and Chiyo finished eating the odd vegetables and turned to look at the top of the hill where they could still hear Mojyamon's shrieks and growls. They watched the furry digimon leap down the cliff, landing only a few meters away from them. 

Chiyo grabbed her digivice. "Ready Renamon?!" 

"Wait!" Yukidarumon called out before Renamon could answer. "Let me handle this, I know him."   

Kinshirou cringed. "If he's being controlled then.. Knowing him won't change that. He has no free will now."  

"Then I'll just have to get rid of that gear!" Yukidarumon cried stopping towards Mojyamon. 

The two ice digimon charged at each other, Yukidarumon used her size to her advantage and managed to tackle Mojyamon. 

The abominable digimon cried out when he was pushed against the cliff wall, but he quickly pushed himself up again ready to attack. 

" _Absolute zero punch!_ " Yukidarumon swung her fist at Mojyamon but the other digimon just grabbed her arm and swung her over his shoulder before throwing her to the ground.  

"Yukidarumon!" Chiyo and Renamon gasped, worried for their new friend. 

"Kin-san!" Pawnchessmon cried, pointing at the cliff wall. "Look!" 

Parts of the mountain wall had crumbled off, now they could all see that the mountain was filled with spinning black gears. Those weren't to control digimon, Kinshirou recognized the gears for what they were. 

Separating the land hadn't been a special ability Devimon had. Devimon couldn't control the island, but he _could_ control the black gears. "It's how he broke the island apart." 

Pawnchessmon nodded. "But he can be stopped... I think." 

Chiyo watched the two and grinned. "First we'll save Mojyamon, then we'll find the others and after that we can focus on Devimon." And with that said, the girl gripped her digivice and held it up in front of her. "Digisoul! Charge!" 

"Renamon digivolve to... Kyubimon!" 

Mojyamon didn't even wait for the light around Kyubimon to fade away. _"Bone_ _bone_ _boomerang!_ _"_ He cried, growing his bone at her as if it was a boomerang. 

Kyubimon was ready for it though. She jumped up and caught the bone in her mouth, crushing it between her teeth. 

"Awesome Kyubimon!" 

" _Dragon wheel!_ " Kyubimon's body enveloped in purple flames in the shape of a dragon, and she threw herself at Moyjamon.  

Unfortunately the furry digimon jumped out of the attacks way, and immediately kicked his opponent further away. The snow melted underneath Mojyamon's burnt foot, but that didn't stop him from getting ready to attack like this. 

"Here!" Yukidarumon ran up from behind Moyjamon and grabbed his arms, lifting him a few centimeters of the ground. "Aim for the gear!" She cried, struggling to hold the heavy digimon up. 

Nodding silently, Kyubimon raised her nine tails. " _Fox tail_ _inferno!_ " A blue ball of fire formed at the tip of each of her tails and shot forward, all going towards the black gear stuck inside Mojyamon's stomach and exploding in an inferno. 

When the fire went out, the black gear was already crumbling into pieces. 

"You did it!" Chiyo cheered jumping in glee. "You can de-evolve back and-" 

"Wait!" Kinshirou stepped forward. Realizing he'd ordered the large monster, the boy let out a small breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Can you attack those gears in the wall?" He asked while pointing at the mountain wall. "Just without destroying them?" 

Kyubimon looked at the many gears in the wall and then looked at Kinshirou  and nodded. She stepped further away from the wall and lifted her tails up again. " _Fox tail inferno!_ " 

This time only three balls of fire shot out of her tail and hit the wall. The black gears in the wall lit up, but didn't shatter. Instead they started spinning in the opposite direction. 

Feeling the buzz underneath his feet change, Kinshirou nodded to himself. His theory had been correct. "Thank you Kyubimon."  

Kyubimon didn't reply. Her body glowed as she shrank back to Renamon. She needed to save her energy if they were going to fight Devimon after all.  

Chiyo was about to ask Kinshirou why he wanted those gears attacked, but stopped when she noticed something had changed about Moyjamon. "Weren't you... bigger?"  

"That's part of Moyjamon's ability." Yukidarumon explained, helping her friend sit up. "He can grow in size so he's able to be outside during terrible snowstorms." 

"Yeah I-" Mojyamon winced and rubbed his head. The world spun around for a bit so he briefly clenched his eyes shut. Everything felt slightly more calm when he opened his eyes again. "What happened?" 

"Mojyamon...." Kinshirou walked towards the furry digimon and bowed deeply. "I apologize. What happened to you was all my fault." 

Mojyamon looked at Kinshirou and blinked. His yellow eyes were wide in confusion. "Your fault? I.. I was controlled."  

Kinshirou nodded stiffly and stood straight up again. "I will set this right." 

"It's already alright." It was Yukidarumon who spoke. She looked at Kinshirou and smile. "Don't beat yourself up dear, I'm sure it will be fine." 

Feeling his face heat up at how... motherly Yukidarumon sounded Kinshirou smiled. "T-thank you.." 

Chiyo who had been looking at the boy this whole time let out a small sigh. Kinshirou had as much as being here as she had. It would have been easy to blame him, but in the end.. It was her job to watch over those kids at camp, so it was probably her fault that Kinshirou, Arima and Akoya had gotten lost too.  

"We are heading back." 

She hadn't expected the boy to turn and speak to her yet. "Sorry?" 

"The island." Kinshirou clarified. "When your partner attacked those gears, it stopped this piece of file island from drifting away." 

Eyes widening Chiyo turned in the direction of Infinity Mountain. Sure enough, it looked like they were getting closer to it now. "So.. You repaired this part of the island?" 

"What?" Kinshirou perked up. "N-no.. Renamon did." 

"I wouldn't have known how to do that without you." Renamon pointed out. "Good job." 

Kinshirou fell quiet and looked down again. A pensive look on his pale face. 

"Kin-san.." Pawnchessmon hummed and walked closer to his partner. "We're going to set this right.. Aren't we?" 

"Yes.." Kinshirou nodded at his partner. "We have to."  


	9. A flower blooms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The island is divided in pieces, and Akoya actually fears who he'll run into first. After Devimon's betrayal, Akoya can only wonder, is he still good?

_This was so surreal._ _Akoya_ _couldn't believe his eyes. He and_ _Ibushi_ _followed_ _Kinshirou_ _aroun_ _d in this strange new land._ _Akoya_ _still didn't_ _understand how they got there, but he knew it had something to do with the devices that fell from the sky._  

 _It wasn't like home at all. The colors were off. The trunks of the tree were blue, the flowers bigger than anything he'd ever seen. Even the air smelled different too. "_ _It's beautiful here." Akoya_ _breathed looking around. "Better than the camp site."_  

 _"It is."_ _Ibushi_ _agreed, scarlet eyes trained on the_ _strange_ _creature in_ _Kinshirou's_ _arms. "Are you sure it's safe?"_  

 _Kinshirou_ _hummed in reply. "_ _Puttimon_ _is harmless. Come we must go to_ _Devimon-sama's_ _mansion."_  

_Akoya_ _was about to ask what this_ _Devimon-sama_ _person was like, but something told him to stop. A feeling. And a song._ _At least that odd feeling in his chest told_ _Akoya_ _that it was a song._

_Pausing, the pink-haired child looked around searching for the source of that song. He didn't notice that_ _Ibushi_ _had already_ _wandered off too. Or that_ _Kinshirou_ _kept walking._ _Akoya_ _searched for whatever it was that gave him this feeling._  

 _"_ _Akoya_ _?"_  

 _That voice didn’t belong to either of his senpai. It was feminine and high-pitched._ _Small_ _and coming from... the plants?_  

 _Getting more curious by the minute,_ _Akoya_ _knelt down. Doing his best to keep his pants from touching the dirt, and getting a hold of his sunhat and bag. "Hello? W_ _here are you?"_  

 _"I am right here."_  

 _Akoya_ _looked once more. Then he found her between some weeds._ _Akoya_ _almost mistook her for a plant too. But somehow_ _Akoya_ _couldn't overlook the little monster. She was green and round with thorns coming from her head. Her tail looked like a large leaf._  

 _Pretty in a different way._ _Akoya_ _smiled at the little_ _digimon_ _. "Hello there...?"_  

 _"Hey!"_ _The creature_ _cheered_ _, small black eyes widening. "It's you! It's really you_ _Akoya_ _!"_  

 _Akoya_ _blinked, taken aback_ _by the_ _digimon's_ _enthusia_ _s_ _m_ _._ _"You_ _know me?"_  

 _"I've been waiting for you!" She answered. "My name is_ _Budmon_ _, we're partners!"_  

 _Akoya_ _couldn't help but giggle at the_ _digimon_ _and picked her up. "Partners?"_  

Akoya stirred, and opened his eyes. It was bright and he was outside. Sleeping on the floor like an animal. The ten-year-old crinkled his nose in distaste. It took a minute or two before he realized why. Devimon betrayed them! Sent them flying on their beds! 

Gasping Akoya sat up, only now realizing his body was covered by his ripped blanket and large leaves. 

"Akoya!" Lalamon exclaimed floating over to her partner. "You're awake! Are you hurt?" 

"Lalamon..." Akoya murmured looking around, spotting his splintered bed frame on the ground behind him. If he had been on there when they crashed... Akoya  vaguely recalled Lalamon holding onto him as the bed plummeted to the ground. Blue eyed widened as he looked at seed digimon in awe. "You saved me." 

"Of course, I'm not that weak..." Lalamon answered. 

Surprised by the flower's choice of words, Akoya frowned. "Of course, you're not weak." He looked around once more. They were in a forest. No that wasn't right. Forest weren't this warm, and these trees didn't look like forest trees. "We're in the jungle." 

"There's good plant life here." Lalamon replied looking around. "But not safe. We should look for the others." 

At the mention of the others Akoya clenched his fists and ducked his head. The others knew he and the others worked with Devimon. That they'd been here for a month. They must be so mad. They would shun them.

And the worst part was, that this time Akoya knew he'd deserve the mistreatment. 

"Akoya?" 

"Yes?" 

"If you want to hide, I'll help." Lalamon told her partner. Not a trace of hesitation in her tone. The little digimon floated to the ground where Akoya's sun head was. She picked it up in her tiny arms, and floated back to her partner. Placing the hat on Akoya's hat. "I won't let you down." 

Akoya let out a small breath, eyes on his shoes for a while longer. Hiding wouldn't help him. Wouldn't make him able to go home either. Akoya shook his head and got up, finding his belongings nearby. "We should find the others... and help?" 

"If you say so." Lalamon agreed. "Don't worry I'll protect you." 

Chuckling Akoya shook his head. "And I'll protect you I guess." He smiled at her. Ibushi and Kinshirou were his friends. But Akoya hadn't ever known someone who wanted to keep him safe like Lalamon did. She was so small still though. So, Akoya didn't mind taking care of her too. 

* * *

After a lucky landing on one of the floating islands, Io and Armadimon didn't spend much time looking for food. Safety in numbers was important so they agreed to look for their friends first. 

They'd been walking for an hour and slowly their hike came to a halt when they reached the ruins. Broken statues that were tall enough to be visible among the trees in the jungle. Statues and walls with vague images on them. Images Io knew had to be Mayan Sun Gods. 

However, what truly captured the ten-year-old's attention was the giant temple a couple of feet in front of them. It looked ancient too. Moss growing on the side of the walls and images on the walls having faded over time.  

The door was already open, so someone had to be inside. Even if there wasn't... what was an ancient looking temple doing on a fragmented piece of file island? 

"Io?" Armadimon questioned. "Shouldn't we be looking for our friends instead of staring at ruins?" 

Io shook his head and started walking towards the temple. "If we find something useful in there, it might be helpful for later." He said, and entered the temple. Armadimon reluctantly following in after him. 

* * *

"Look bananas!" Akoya yelled, pointing a finger up at the top of a tree where a bunch of bananas were growing. Or at least the fruit looked like bananas. Akoya had never seen orange bananas before. But he hadn't eaten all day, so he'd be willing to try orange bananas. "Can you grab those for me?" 

"Sure thing." Lalamon floated upwards, wrapped her tiny arms around the bananas and pulled. It took several tries, but eventually the flowerbud drifted down with the fruit and handed it to Akoya.  

Taking it, Akoya put the bunch down and grabbed one banana. "Thank goodness, I was so hungry!" He exclaimed and peeled the banana. Only to discover that was no actual fruit inside. "What the... why?!" 

"It's surprisingly yummy." Lalamon said. Cheerily munching on the banana peel. 

No! It wasn't yummy! Not at all. Tears of frustration filling his eyes, Akoya kicked the banana bunch away. "Why does it have to be like this?! I want to go home!" 

He and Lalamon jumped in surprise when they heard something hit the ground behind them.  

Slowly Akoya turned around, face gaining a green hue when he saw a pink sludge on the dirt. Being a digimon lord, Akoya had learned plenty about different kind of digimon. Numemon weren't the only ones who used such disgusting attacks. 

Dread making his stomach cold, Akoya looked up. Immediately he and Lalamon spotted them. 

Sitting on a low hanging tree branch was a yellow odd shaped digimon. With bulging eyes and thin long arms which it used to move around. On its' shoulder sat another smaller digimon, Tyumon. A pink rat-like digimon. 

* * *

 **Digimon** **analyzer**     
Scumon _and_ _Tyomon_ _. A duo of_ _digimon_ _always found together, they are scavenger low level_ _digimon_ _with crude humor._  

* * *

"Hello there pretty ones!" Scumon cheerfully waved his bony hand at Akoya. The digimon's face was so oddly shaped, that he was unable to close his mouth. Its teeth were constantly on display and now Akoya was facing that grin. "How about a kiss?" 

Oh... Akoya's face turned green and the child shuddered so hard he might as well be convulsing. "Not in your life time!" 

Scumon blinked, not appearing bothered by Akoya's rejection. "That's alright!" Tyumon said, waving his short pink arm around. "You can give us all your goods instead!" 

Lalamon blinked, tilting her head the same time Akoya did so too. "Are you trying to rob us?" 

"Is it working?" Scumon questioned. 

Akoya clenched his fists and angrily shook his head.  

"NO?!" Scumon and Tyomon cried out. The duo shared a look and nodded. They reached behind themselves and- 

 _"Sludge attack!"_  

Akoya screamed taking of, running away as fast as he could. Piles of smelly goo landing all around him. "Lalamon!" 

Lalamon turned around to attack, but before she could do s, Akoya grab her short-green leg and dragged her along. "I didn't mean to fight!" Akoya hissed. "Run!" 

Akoya ran while the sludges fell around him. He hated the sickening squelching sounds from the sludge hitting the ground. His legs shook, and his chest was on fire. And he still hadn't eaten a single thing all day.  

The first tear rolled down his cheek and Akoya gave in. He stopped talking, let go of Lalamon and fell forward, hands landing on a tree trunk; it was a wonder how he hadn't lost his sunhat after such a frenetic escape. 

"I am tired!" He cried, panting. Body trembling. "Can't you stop?!" 

Miraculously the rain of sludge did stop. Scumon jumped from tree to tree till he and Tyumon were in the tree above Akoya. That's where they slid downwards landing on the floor in front the pink-haired child. 

"There," Tyumon said. "We stopped." 

"What?" Akoya sniffled and looked up at the two low-level digimon. 

"Does that mean we get your stuff?" Scumon asked. He reached for Akoya, bony hand landing on the strap of Akoya's bag, where the boy kept his digivice. 

The moment the hostile digimon touched it the device lit up. Enveloping Scumon and Tyomon in soft pink light. 

Akoya and Lalamon shielded their eyes from the light. Stepping away from the two digimon.

When the light faded Scumon and Tyumon were smiling brightly. 

"You two?" Akoya took a step backwards. He was honestly relieved they hadn't evloved from the light. Last thing he wanted was to have either of those digimon as his partner. "Are you alright?" 

Scumon blinked and Tymon giggled. "I feel so refreshed!" The yellow digimon said. "Like I want to be better forever." 

"It's like we're purified." Tyomon said, snuggling against Scumon. 

Akoya and Lalamon looked at each other and took several steps away from the two digimon. 

"We're purified!" Scumon cried, jumping up and down like a toddler wanting to be heard. "I swear!" 

Akoya hugged himself, looking around nervously. "I don't believe you." 

Lalamon floated in front of her partner, ready to fight if needed. But Scumon and Tyumon seemed so sincere right now. Sighing, the flower digimon floated downwards so she was on eye level with Scumon and Tyumon. "Prove it. Have you seen other humans around here?" 

* * *

Surprisingly the temple wasn't that dark on the inside. Io was quiet as he and Armadimon explored the temple. There were markings on the walls. 

But not Mayan ones. Io recognized the markings. They were the same as the ones he saw at Andromon's factory. 

Armadimon's ears perked up and he stepped forward. "Io, do you hear that?" He asked, looking over his shoulder. 

Io shook his head. "What is it?" 

"Buzzing..." Armadimon answered. "This way!" He shouted and started walking.  

Io followed him through the narrow halls to a large room in the temple. 

Just like on all the other walls, the ones in this room had digicode written as well. 

The big difference here was the giant spinning black gear stuck in the ground.  

Io looked up and saw a hole in the roof. "That's how it got here."  

Armadimon nodded. "Devimon's black gear." The armadillo like digmon turned to Io. "Is that how the island moves?" 

Surprised Io blinked rapidly, processing that question. He looked from Armadimon to the black gear. The gear that could take away a digimon's free will. Now it was controlling the island. Io smiled at his partner. "You're brilliant!" 

Sitting down Io grabbed his bag and took out his tablet. "Maybe by comparing the digicode from the factory to the digicode around here," He said turning his tablet on. "I'll find a way to stop the black gears." 

Using his tablet, Io took pictures of the code on the wall and began comparing them with the digicode found in Andromon's factory. A task harder than Io anticipated considering he still didn't understand the ones from the factory either.  

"But shouldn't we find our friends first?"  

Io shook his head. "No, this is more important. It can help later on." He said and sat back down on the floor. 

He needed a reference point still. It would help if he could actually look it up online. Io sighed and opened google. Which miraculously was already on a page about ancient texts. "Very strange..." 

"Strange?" Armadimon repeated. 

"It's the only page that works." Io muttered trying to change the page once more. No matter if he tried to go forward or backward, he always ended up on the page about the texts. 

Io assumed that meant this page had to be useful. He ignored Armadimon's next question and started analyzing the codes. 

* * *

 "They didn't lie." Akoya concluded solemnly. Gazing at the temple entrance. Dread filing his stomach. Scumon and Tyumon said they'd seen a human enter the temple. But Akoya didn't know  _which_  human was in there.  

If it wasn't Ibushi or Kinshirou, then it would be one of his other camp mates.  

Who had all the right to hate him. 

"We should go inside." Lalamon said. 

Akoya nodded and started walking forward, entering the temple. 

Glad Lalamon floated at his shoulder. They walked for a while till they eventually made it to a large room which had several doors in the wall and digicode written all over the place. 

But that wasn't what got Akoya's attention. It was the giant black gear attached to the floor and the boy siting on the floor besides it. "Naruko?" 

Io had been making progress in understanding the code when a voice called out his name. Stiffening Io turned his to the source of the voice and his grey eyes narrowed. "Gero..." 

Akoya swallowed nervously and wrapped his arms around himself. 

"Hello..." Slowly Akoya walked closer to Io. "Do you know where the others are?" 

Staring at the other, Io pushed himself to his feet. "You're a lord here? You've been controlling the monsters!" 

"No!" Akoya shook his head, but winced. "Devimon has... we didn't know." 

Io raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Didn't know you were forcing those digimon to attack?" 

"We did... But Devimon did it!" Akoya insisted, cheeks red. "He just told us we were winning!" 

"Winning what?" 

"The game!" 

"Akoya..." Lalamon murmured.  

Besides him Io's partner eyed him in concern too. "Io, I don't think this helps..." 

Io sighed and rubbed his forehead, glaring at Akoya still. "How do the black gear works?" 

Akoya blinked, finally looking at the shorter boy's face. Aware that Io had only been demanding answers this whole time. "The gears..." 

"Well?" Io demanded, glancing at the moving gear stuck to the floor. 

If Akoya could explain how the black gears worked than he could stop researching. They'd make the island piece float back to connect infinity mountain again.  

"It's..." Akoya took a deep breath. "It's a gear made from Devimon's dark energy. Like one of his attacks. With the gears he can control digimon all over the island." Akoya frowned deeply. It really should have been obvious that Devimon had been using them. "Like he's the king." 

Devimon never needed them. 

Then why did they fall for it so easily? In retrospect... it really made him feel like a fool. "Why did he lie to us?" 

Taken aback by the question Io blinked, then shook his head. "You believed it too easily." And with that said he sat back down, grabbing his tablet again and going back to trying to understand the code. Akoya's information wasn't helpful at all.  

Perhaps Akoya himself wasn't helpful at all. "You don't know where the others are." 

"I don't." Akoya admitted bowing his head. 

Io made 'tch' sound and focused on his tablet.  

Akoya grimaced. "Naruko-kun?" 

"Wait here and don't make things worse." Io instructed not sparring Akoya another glance. "I need to find out how to guide this piece of the island back."  

Surprised by Io's harsh words, Akoya's face went slack. 

Yes, he expected Io and all the others to be mad at him. Akoya knew he deserved that anger. He didn't even understand why Lalamon didn't hate him for what he did. Helping enslave those digimon. 

But Io wasn't just mad. Io was being dismissive of him. Like he was useless and nothing but trouble. 

Which... wasn't true at all. Or shouldn't be true. 

Akoya's arms fell to his side and his clenched his fists. He wasn't useless. 

And he was going to prove it. "Lalamon, let's go." He whispered. 

"Where are we going?" 

"To figure out this place." Akoya answered already walking further into the tunnels, Lalamon floating besides his shoulder. 

Armadimon watched them go, and made his version of a shrug. He moved to sit next to and watched him work. He didn't understand a thing of the signs on Io's screen, but Io seemed to think it was important. 

More important than making sure the new human they found stayed with them. 

* * *

"Akoya why didn't we stay with Io?" Lalamon asked floating at her partner's side. 

Akoya's strides were fast paced and he still had his fists clenched. "Because Io thinks I can't help." Akoya muttered. "That we're useless." 

They continued walking for a while. Turning corners and walking through long corridors.

Such a confusing place. 

Still there were those markings on the walls too. Akoya didn't understand them. But surely there'd be something important at the temple.  

"We're proving us?" Lalamon asked. 

Akoya nodded. "Not to Naruko, Zaou or the rest... but to Devimon." 

"Okay..." Lalamon replied. "What are we proving?" 

Akoya didn't slow down his pace. "That... we're good." 

They rounded another corner and from the corner of his eye Akoya saw a small hole open up in the wall, and something shooting out of it. 

"LOOK OUT!" The ten-year-old screamed, hurriedly plucking Lalamon from the air and diving to the ground. 

He felt the arrow shoot past his head and even stayed on the floor, clinging to his digimon partner for several seconds afterwards. 

Lalamon whimpered. "What was that?" 

"A trap." 

* * *

He understood a few of the codes already.  _To view the way_. Io didn't truly get what that meant, but it did sound like an option. So, he stood up and walked over to where that exact digicode with that meaning was written on the wall and pressed on it with his finger. 

"Io..." Armadimon called out. He was still sitting on the floor, watching Io's tablet. Yellow tail, wagging around lazily.

"What is it?" 

"The screen changed." 

Io walked back to Armadimon and looked at his tablet. Letting out a soft gasp he grabbed it and stared. Indeed, the screen had changed. It was black and filled with white lines, mapping out all the halls of the temple.  

"It's a maze." Io concluded, recognizing the map for what it was. There were little notes written in each hall alerting him of which traps were in each room.  

Telling Io that it was a wise choice not to advance further into the temple.  

There was a blinking light pink dot on the screen too. One that was slowly moving through the halls. Io rubbed his chin in thought. "I wonder what the dot is?" 

"Maybe it's Akoya and his partner." Armadimon suggested. 

Io blinked. That didn’t make sense. Akoya was... Io looked over his shoulder to the spot where he'd last seen Akoya. Only to find it empty. 

"He went into the maze?" Io exclaimed. "When?" 

"A while ago." 

A while ago. Io swallowed nervously and looked at the map. Akoya was approaching the center of the maze. The room with the pitfall! "How can we warn them?" 

Armadimon looked around his movements slow and jerk like. Eventually his eyes landed on the tunnel Akoya and Lalamon entered. "I can run really fast?" 

"No!" Io cried, frantically shaking his head. "You'll get lost too!"  

Once again since arriving in this strange world Io didn't know to do to regain control of the situation. He couldn't just sit here and watch Akoya walk to his death! 

Getting frustrated Io tapped on the dot on his tablet that showed Akoya's location. As if that could stop the other from walking further. 

Right after he did that a voice came from his tablet. 

" _I think this whole place is_ _full_ _of traps, so be careful where you float."_  

Io blinked, recognizing the older boy's voice. "Akoya?" 

The dot on the screen stopped moving. 

* * *

 

Akoya and Lalamon froze in their tracks and were looking around in wonder. But Io wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Naruko?" Akoya called out, looking behind him. There was nothing but an empty corridor behind him. Yet he could have sworn he heard Io's voice. 

"Maybe we imagined it?" Lalamon suggested.  

Akoya nodded and was about to continue walking when they heard it again.  

" _Akoya_ _can you hear me?"_  

Io's voice came from the ceiling? Akoya rubbed his forehead. "Naruko what are you doing in the ceiling?" 

" _You_ can _hear me!"_  Io sounded relieved. " _You need to stop walking! There's a_ _pitfall ahead!"_  

Akoya and Lalamon had already stopped walking, but both backed away further at the mention of a pitfall. "How do you know this?" 

" _I found a map_." Io answered. " _I'll guide you through the maze. First go back, and turn left when you reach the corner._ " 

"Alright..." Akoya answered. Glad no one saw his red face and teary eyes. He couldn't prove himself like this. 

* * *

 

It was going well. He could guide Akoya and his partner out of this. Io was sure of it, until he noticed a new dot appearing on his map. This one was dark red and quickly making it's way towards Akoya. "Something is coming..." 

" _What is?_ " 

Io looked at the screen and nodded to himself. "Akoya you need to rush forward. Armadimon and I will see you soon." And with that said Io shut down his tablet and stood up.  "Let's hurry Armadimon!" 

* * *

"Rush?" Akoya frowned, eyes on the ceiling. Waiting for Io's response. "Why do we have to rush?" 

There was no reply. 

"Naruko?" Akoya called out, looking at the ceiling. "Naruko can you hear me?" 

There was no response. 

But Akoya got his answer in the form of the sound of hooves rapidly approaching them. "Lalamon, do you-" He didn't need to finish his question. The source of the sound reached them in no time. 

First they saw its' long horse legs. Then it's one glowing red eye hidden behind an armor headpiece.  

"It's Centaurmon!" Lalamon shrieked floating forward and placing herself between Akoya and Centaurmon.  

* * *

 **Digimon** **analyzer:**     
Centaurmon, a beast like digimon whose upper body is humanoid. With his mechanicals hands he releases his hunting canon attack.  

* * *

The digimon certainly looked like a centaur, but far scarier and way bigger than Akoya imagined a real centaur to look like. With a black gear stuck in its' humanoid back. And it was still approaching them! 

"Lalamon, move away!" 

Instead of following Akoya's desperate order, Lalamon floated even closer to Centaurmon. 

"Lalamon!" 

"I can prove that I'm not a useless partner!" Lalamon shouted, floating closer to Centaurmon before singing. " _Sing a song..._ " Her voice came in the tone of a soothing lullaby and for a moment Centaurmon's head lulled forward, like her attack would indeed put him to sleep. 

But then Centaurmon shook his head and swatted Lalamon like she was a mere fly standing in his way. 

He hit her with his mechanical arm and sent her flying backwards. The small digimon would have crashed to the ground if not for Akoya rushing forward and catching her. 

"Lalamon!" Akoya cried, immediately pulling the small digimon close. "Are you okay? Does it hurt?" 

Lalamon only whimpered, closing her eyes in shame. 

Hearing Centaurmon start to move Akoya looked on time to see one of the digimon's metal arms shift into the form of a canon. 

Not wanting to see what it's attack looked like, Akoya started running. He turned around the corner and rushed forward just like Io's finale instruction said. 

" _Hunting canon!_ " 

Akoya tightened his grip around Lalamon when he heard a wall shatter behind them. And the sound of Centaurmon's hooves approaching once again. "What are we going to do?!" 

Akoya was very aware of the black gear stuck in the digimon's back. This was Devimon's fault. And by extensions theirs. 

Lalamon sniffled. "I'm sorry..." 

"W-what are you sorry for?" Akoya panted already exhausted from running. 

"I wanted to prove..." Lalamon whimpered again. "That I'm not a useless partner." 

Akoya's stopped running. Face flushed and out of breath. Stunned he looked down at Lalamon. Ignoring the rapidly approaching monster. "Of course you're not useless!" He cried, chest heaving up in down as he struggled to breath calmly again. "You protected me!" 

"But..." Lalamon frowned. "You said we had to prove we're good." 

"I meant... That we're good." Akoya slowly shook his head. Not knowing how to explain. "That we're not... bad." 

The look of confusion on Lalamon's face had to make way for a tiny smile. "You're good." 

"Thanks..." Unconsciously, Akoya hugged his partner a little closer. "You're good too." 

Neither of them was awate of the warm pink light surrounding them. Not until they both felt a spike of energy for that. 

Gasping softly Akoya let go of Lalamon who floated upwards. Still glowing. Akoya grabbed his digivice from his belt. "Is this what I think it is??" 

"Only one way to find out!" Lalamon cried, eyes narrowing in determination.

She was right. Akoya nodded and held his digivice up. "Digisoul charge!" 

The light surrounding Lalamon grew brighter and brighter and soon Akoya couldn't even see his partner anymore. He did however see Centaurmon rapidly approaching him. 

"Lalamon digivolve to... Sunflowmon!" 

Centaurmon was in front of Akoya now, readying his attack. His canon bigger than before. "Hunting can-" 

" _Sunshine beam!"_  Sunflowmon fired a hot beam from her yellow petals, hitting Centaurmon's side and knocking him into a wall. 

"Wow..." Akoya grinned watching his partner's new form. The pink digimon had bloomed into a giant sunflower. Her head at least looked like a sunflower. At least her head did. Her body was the color of a flower stem, and she gained limbs now too. And wings. Wings in the shape of leaves. "You're so strong now..." 

"How is that for being useless?" Sunflowmon said, a laugh in her voice. 

Centaurmon got up. "You digivolved, but you are still no match for me.  _Hunting canon!"_ He cried, firing his weapon again. Aiming at the center of Sunflowmon's head. 

"Be careful!" 

Akoya didn't need to shout. Sunflowmon easily flew out of the way, avoiding the attack. 

" _Sunshine beam!"_  

Amazed Akoya watched his partner fight the larger monster. She was so much bigger and stronger now. There was a rumbling sound behind him and Akoya turned around in time to see something punch a hole form in the wall behind him. 

The bricks crumbled and through the hole Akoya could see Armadimon and Io outside. "You guys?" 

"Hurry! Get out of there!" Io yelled. 

Nodding, Akoya stepped through the hole and exited the temple. His whole body trembling with adrenaline. "Naruko look!" 

Curiously Io peered through the hole, grey eyes widening when he saw a giant sunflower attacking a centaur. "Is that...?" 

"Lalamon evolved." Akoya beamed with pride. "Look at her go!" 

He, Io and Armadimon watched Sunflowmon fire one more beam at Centaurmon's back. Destroying the black gear inside. 

Defeated Centaurmon fell to the ground, unmoving. 

Armadimon whistled, nodding his head. "She's impressive." 

"She is." Akoya agreed. When Sunflowmon de-evolved, Akoya went back inside through the hole and plucked the tired digimon from the air. "You did so well!" 

"I did?" 

"Uh huh!" The ten-year-old nodded. Bouncing on his toes in excitement. 

* * *

Once Centaurmon woke up and apologized for attacking, he led the kids to the big room at the end of the temple. Akoya was still carrying Lalamon in his arms a pleased look plastered on his face. He was right about there being something important at the back of the temple. Lalamon could evolve now. Lalamon wouldn't be able to evolve if he wasn't good right?

"I can never apologize enough for what I did today." Centaurmon said, bowing his head in remorse.

Io shook his head. "It wasn't your fault."

"Yeah!" Armadimon agreed. "It's all because of Devimon's black gear!"

Akoya and Lalamon shared a loook and nodded. They wouldn't let Devimon get away with this. For that they needed to find their friends though.

Akoya could only hope that Kinshirou and Ibushi were okay. Especially Kinshirou, considering how much Kinshirou admired the scary digimon.

"Still," Centaurmon continued. "To think that I of all digimon attacked a chosen a child."

That sounded vague. Io raised an eyebrow. Again, someone talked about them being chosen. Chosen for what? Devimon had said too. And when someone who looked like a devil said you were chosen, that couldn't mean anything good right?

Hadn't Leomon said something about chosen children as well. And then there was that other thing that Centaurmon said. "You of all digimon?"

"Yes," Centaurmon's shoulders slumped. They reached their destination, and he gestured his arm at the fall wall. "I, guardian of the holy device temple."

Io, Akoya and their partners gasped. Instantly recognizing the symbol the wall. It was a white painting of what couldn't be anything other than their digivices.  Both looked at the strap of their bag, where they kept their own digivice.

Understanding the looks of confusion on the children's faces, Centaurmon looked at the symbol on the wall again. "I can't tell you much about how it works," He told them. "Just what it's meant to do."

"Meant to do?" Io echoed. Face scrunching up as he studied his own digivice. 

"It guides the world towards the light when the darkness thrives." Centaurmon explained. "It's a legendary device, digimon have heard stories about for centuries."

For centuries? Akoya looked at his digivice in wonder. All he knew about the little gadget was that it was what helped their partner digimon evolve. Devimon said that only chosen children with digisoul could use a digivice too. "I don't really understand how it works." He spoke quietly, lifting his head. "But it's good we have them right?"

"I think so?" Io agreed.

"It's of great importance that you have them." Centaurmon said, louder than before. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help." 

Akoya walked closer to the large digimon. This talk had actually made him feel a lot better. He knew he had digisoul. That the digivice wouldn't work if he was ruined or ugly... Akoya was about to thank Centaurmon for the explanation when Io spoke up.

"Actually," Io said, stepping forward. "There's one more thing..."

* * *

 

They went back to the first room in the tunnel where Io showed Centaurmon the large black gear stuck in the ground.

"Armadimon and I believe this is what's making the land move." Io informed their new alley. "If we can reverse it, the land will go back to File Island."

The glow of Centaurmon's eye grew brighter, which Io thought meant the digimon was surpised.

Centaurmon walked closer to the giant gear and knelt down, watching it turn. The human appeared to be right, but that didn't change the fact he had never seen a black gear this size before. "I want to help." Centaurmon told them. "But there's so much darkness in this."

At that Lalamon perked up. "Darkness? Does that mean the holy device defeat it?" She questioned?" 

Akoya blinked. "Like with Scumon and Tyumon." He said, recalling how his digivice 'purified' those two vulgar digimon. He grabbed his digivice. 

Besides him, Io did the same. They aimed their digivice at the moving gear. They expected that nothing would come of it. But the opposite turned out to be true. Rays of light shot out of the screen on the device, hitting the moving gear head on.

The rays were hot and blindingly bright.

When the lights died down, the gear was moving in the opposite direction. The ground underneath the grumbled, and then there was a gentle buzzing coming from the land.

Armadimon tilted his head. "Did it work?"

The others didn't answer. They ran out of the temple, prompting the yellow digmon to follow the small group.

Outside they looked at the horizon. Akoya gasped softly, they were no longer floating away from File Island. But towards it. "We're going back!"

"To the source of the darkness." Centaurmon observed solemnly.

Io shook his head. "To where... our friends are."

Surely once they regrouped they'd find a way to stop Devimon and this 'Darkness'. Io knew they'd find away. He just hoped the others were doing alright, wherever they landed.


End file.
